The Mortal Coil by Neoxphile & Faerax
by neoxphile
Summary: In the months since "Untangling the Webs" life in Haven has settled back down into what passes as normalcy. But both personal drama and signs of a serial killer in town are about to change that... Audrey/Duke romance
1. Not Exactly as Planned

Title: The Mortal Coil  
Authors: Faerax and Neoxphile  
Spoilers: seasons 1-3, but AU after "Lockdown"

Summary: In the months since "Untangling the Webs" life in Haven has settled back down into what passes as normalcy. But both personal drama and signs of a serial killer in town are about to change that...

Authors' note: Duke's longer hair in canon season three has forced us to skip ahead several months to explain it. Sorry about that. Oh, and if you don't read "Untangling The Webs" first, you're going to be pretty darn confused by the end of chapter one. This story's realm is AU in several significant ways by this point.

* * *

Thursday

A moderate breeze coming off the ocean made it feel a little less sweltering than most days earlier in the week had. People in northern New England might complain bitterly about the cold all seven months of winter, but if you string enough days in the 90s together they complained about the high humidity and heat too. It made locals wonder what people in other parts of the country were like if people who complained constantly about the weather were considered _stoic_ by folks from away.

At that moment Duke stood outside his establishment, enjoying the breeze and relishing that for a moment he was alone with his thoughts so no one was asking him if it with hot enough for him or if he'd seen the giant mosquito that had carried away their dog. Thinking of that, he wondered if the old groaner had given that King guy in Bangor the idea for that story about things coming out of a mist...having suddenly spooked himself, he glanced around, more than a little relieved that the day was still clear.

Chiding himself, he tuned back to the task at hand: trying very hard not to use the chalk in his left hand to draw a too revealing picture to go with the words "closed from 5 to 6:30 PM." He decided against doing anything that would get him screamed at just as a throat being cleared behind him got his attention.

He turned, hoping it was Audrey home from work early, but discovered an elderly woman staring at him instead. Trying not to let his disappointment show, he politely asked, "can I help you?"

The woman frowned at him and pointed at the chalkboard. "You really closed until six-thirty?"

_Nope, thought I was getting entirely too much business lately, so I decided to see if I could drive off some customers with misdirection_, Duke thought sarcastically. Forcing himself to smile instead, he apologized, "Sorry, I've agreed to let someone take over the place for a function."

This did not mollify his elder. "But I've been craving your tacos all day! How am I supposed to stay awake until seven-thirty or so?"

_Lord, let me never get so decrepit that seven-thirty is a late night_, Duke thought but didn't actually pray. "A nap?" he suggested aloud.

The woman sighed. "I hope this function is something important."

Duke grinned at her, which left her looking slightly confused. "Ma'am, I daresay this function will change a man's life."

This apparently interested her. "Not yours, I take it."

He thought this over. "No. Any effects on me would merely be tangential." Audrey might feel more connected to the results, but Duke didn't. Not really.

"Well," the woman said, finally softening. "Tell him good luck for me. I'm Lois, by the way."

Looking at her, Duke wondered if she somehow guessed why Duke had agreed to shut down for the earliest part of the evening. With the amount of troubled people in town, he couldn't dismiss the idea out of hand. "Will do."

"I'll be back after a nap," she said over her shoulder as she began to toddle off.

"See ya, Lois," he called after her, making a mental note to bring her a complimentary dessert if she returned before he left.

Duke was semi-proud of himself because of how well he'd handled the situation with the elderly woman. For the first few months after he'd learned about the curse that was attached to his bloodline, he'd been anxious every time he'd seen an elderly person, worried that they'd tried to get him to kill them and end their family's trouble. This had only intensified when Audrey had teased him just before Thanksgiving because until then he'd been able to convince himself that no one else had given the possibility any thought. If she had, maybe the old folks had too...

When the woman was out of sight, he finished his message, pocketed the chalk, and went inside to see how the prep was going. The evening might not be a life-changer for him, but he'd never hear the end of it if things didn't go smoothly.

* * *

Inside, Duke's staff was bustling. His first stop was the kitchen to check on how the cooking was going. That seemed well in hand, so he wandered back out to the bar which was even more important this particular night. The bartender gave him a tight smile as soon as he noticed him approaching. "He's called twice."

"And what did you tell him?" Duke didn't need to ask what the calls had been about.

"That everything'll be ready for him when he gets here in-" The bartender looked at the clock. "-in ten minutes."

"Good," Duke told him.

"You must really like this guy," the bartender said in a long-suffering tone that suggested that it was hard to believe that a person could.

Duke raised his eyebrows, remembering that Frank had only moved to Haven that month. Otherwise the question's tone would have been ironic instead. "He's very important to my girlfriend," Duke said by way of explanation.

"Ah, gotcha." Frank nodded. "Then I don't blame you for not rocking the boat."

Unbidden, Duke found himself remembering the first major fight he and Audrey had in their relationship, back when she'd gotten the mistaken idea that he'd run off when he been accused of theft. The boat had been a literal one in that case. Well his was, not the phantom one everyone had gone looking for in the storm. That one had been an idea brought to life by a young boy who no longer lived in Haven.

"Duke?" Frank asked, bringing him back to reality. "Any final instructions?" he prompted.

"Give him whatever he asks for, but get the server to steer the lady towards a white wine."

"Right."

"Oh! Do you have it?" Duke asked, suddenly worried. "He gave it to you, right?" He'd been far too busy picking up supplies then packing them away that afternoon to notice if the other man had stopped by like he'd intended to.

Frank patted the counter. "Under here."

Relieved, he just said "okay." Duke realized he shouldn't have worried. Someone that anal wouldn't have overlooked something like bringing that by exactly when he said he would.

Duke checked in the kitchen once more, pleased that the food looked perfect. Everything was going as well as he'd want it to for himself… Not that he thought it would be anytime soon for him. So far that was an argument he wasn't winning.

"He's here!" an excited server told him, coming into the kitchen. "Truck just pulled in."

Duke smiled, wondering if he should really pass along the old woman's well wishing. In the end he decided not to, thinking that he, of all people, trying to get the man of the hour alone for private word it would only arouse suspicion. Instead he just walked in the dining room, trying to look as uninterested as possible, despite wishing he could hear every word that would pass between the couple that evening. If only to give Audrey a full report, he told himself without any real conviction.

* * *

When they got the Gull, Nathan tried to hustle Jess inside immediately, but he wasn't as successful as he would've liked because her eyes clearly caught sight of the chalkboard, making her say "Nathan?"

Ignoring her questioning tone, he led the way inside. Duke appeared, and Nathan relaxed when he realized Duke looked annoyed rather than excited enough to give anything away; for once he was glad that the other man was so good at acting. At least he thought that Duke was merely pretending to be put out.

Duke led them to a table inside, making Jess look up at him with questions clearly on her mind but he looked at Nathan instead and sighed. "I still can't believe you won the contest." Duke sounded admirably aggrieved as far as Nathan was concerned.

"My name was drawn," Nathan said smugly, relieved that a contest was the ruse that Duke had decided to frame the night with. He'd been worried that Duke's improv would involve his recent official reinstatement as police chief - and it would have been awkward to explain why Audrey and Dwight, as well as the Teagues, weren't there too at the very least. Sure, Audrey was working, but the guys?

"Yeah, I know, fair and square." Sighing again, Duke looked at Jess. "It's not that I begrudge you the specially prepared meal, it's just that I was hoping it wouldn't be a regular who won. You know, garner some new interest in this place."

Nathan smirked at him. "Tell you what, next ten out-of-towners I ticket, I'll recommend they eat here."

"Ha. Good enough." Duke smirked back before looking at them both. "I do hope you enjoy the meal. Especially you," he told Jess. If Nathan didn't know him so well, he would have worried that Duke was flirting with Jess, but he knew full well that this was Duke being nice to a woman, and not nearly as sickeningly flirtatious as he still was with Nathan's half-sister.

"Thank you," Jess told him.

Duke gave a half bow before going off to do whatever it was that he considered needing doing.

"Why didn't you tell me you won a contest?" Jess asked Nathan as soon as their host was out of sight.

He shrugged. "I wanted to know if he'd honor the win, first. I would have bought us dinner anyway, but not what he's promised tonight's menu for the winner to be."

Nathan had no idea what the meal would've cost on the menu, but he'd been happy enough to disappear three parking tickets as requested in trade. Somehow he knew Duke wouldn't have cheated him, so he could only assume that the meal would've cost another patron a pretty penny indeed.

Jess looked slightly taken aback. "I know you're still not best friends, but-"

Nathan shook his head. "Technically being Audrey's brother should have disqualified me, like the family of employees. It's kind of like nepotism."

"But they're not married," Jess protested.

It was Nathan's turned to raise an eyebrow. "Near enough, much as that pains me to think about." The comment was made more because it was expected of him, rather than one made with any real dismay to it. A year had passed since his knack for terrible timing had him opening Audrey's door at the worst possible moment, and his assumption then that Duke would move on after getting what he'd been after had been thoroughly proven wrong.

Jess gave him a mocking look. "Right, after all this time you still hate them being together."

"I have a reputation to maintain, Jess."

This made her smile at him. Somehow she had decided that Duke was the right man for Audrey a lot longer ago than he had… and he wasn't entirely sure it was just because she'd wanted Audrey's attentions focused elsewhere before they had all discovered the biological connection between himself and Audrey.

The next thirty minutes seemed to pass quickly as they ate their meal. Despite anticipation making him nervous, Nathan had to admit that the food was wonderful. This surprised him a little because he knew that Duke had delegated the cooking duties to someone else. He made a mental note to encourage Duke to give the chef a raise.

When the dishes were cleared away, and their dessert promised to arrive soon, Nathan got so nervous he thought he'd wet himself. Between courses seemed a safe time to hit the head, so he got up and murmured, "be right back" before he left the table.

* * *

Over at the bar, Frank got a call from an angry vendor who was apparently stuck outside with several cases of alcohol. Duke had mentioned that the door had been sticking off and on, but it hadn't caused any issues until then. Frank decided to grab a server to bring the drinks over to the table rather than send the kid out back to be a sacrificial lamb for the ticked off delivery person.

"Hey, as soon as you see Nathan returning to the table," Frank said, noting that someone was placing something decadent in front of Jess and across from her. "Poured two glasses of wine and bring them to the table. He gets the merlot, she gets the pinot grigio. Put the engagement ring-" He showed the box to the boy. "-in her glass and don't act overly excited or anything when you put it down, just calmly leave. Get that?"

"Sure," the server agreed.

"Good." Frank left, leaving the boy with the bottles of wine and the ring. Eventually, he realized that getting the door unstuck was going to be a two-man job, and found Duke to help him, not that the boss didn't grumble about being away from the action the whole time.

* * *

Danny, the server, looked at the bottles, wishing like hell that either name Frank had given him was on the labels. He glanced over at the woman waiting for her boyfriend to come back from the can and then at two glasses he just poured. She was wearing red and he decided that was a clue. He slipped the ring into the matching glass and got up when he noticed the man returning to the table.

The man sat and the young server put the glasses down in front of them, then wandered off as sedately as he could manage. Hopefully he'd see her reaction clearly from the bar.

* * *

Even more nervous now, Nathan didn't really grasp the fact that Jess's wine was too dark in color for her to notice that the ring was sitting in the bottom of it until she brought the glass to her mouth, obviously intending to wash down a bite her dessert.

"Jess!" he started to say, a moment too late.

* * *

Duke was across the room when he realized that the server had given Jess Nathan's wine and vice versa. He was only halfway to their table, trying to figure out how to repair the drink issue, when Nathan exclaimed "Jess!" in an alarmed tone.

Jess, startled by his outburst, gulped down the wine in her mouth…

And immediately began to choke. Duke realized it was more serious than swallowing liquid the wrong way when she put her hands to her throat in a classic "I'm choking" gesture.

Fortunately, Nathan sprang to action and grabbed her from behind, quickly performing a textbook Heimlich maneuver. After a couple of fist thrusts into her abdomen, the ring popped out of her mouth and landed on the table.

Jess hardly seemed to notice and gasped noisily now that she could finally breathe at all.

At first Duke was relieved that the crisis had been averted. But only until he saw Nathan's face. If looks could kill…

_Dammit_, Duke thought cursing the stuck door, _how did this become my fault?_

Over the course of the next couple of minutes two things became clear: Jess's throat was extremely sore, and Nathan was extremely pissed, at him as he suspected. All offers of help were waved off beyond Nathan shoving the ring in his pocket after it was washed off and given to him, and in the end it was decided that a visit to the ER was in order to make sure that there was no significant damage to Jess's throat.

To make things worse, Duke had seen Audrey return to her apartment just before disaster had struck. She'd want an immediate report about how the proposal had gone... He hung around the restaurant after Jess and Nathan left long enough to make sure the assistant manager was ready to open for the dinner crowd, and then glumly climbed the stairs to his girlfriend's apartment.

* * *

ER

"Looks okay, Jessy," nurse Beth Hunt declared with a reassuring smile after helping Jess with a spray to soothe her injured throat. "I'm sure it feels raw but I don't see any real damage. As long as there's no swelling that makes it hard to breathe, I don't think you'll need to spend any more time here." Eying Nathan, she added, "You'll keep an eye on her tonight, right?"

"As long as she still wants to spend the night with me," he muttered.

"Why wouldn't I?" Jess asked hoarsely. "What happened wasn't your fault."

"Oh, I heard about that," Beth announced. "You want me to put the ring in the autoclave for couple of minutes? That'd sterilize it."

"Um, I'm not sure that'd be good for the ring," Nathan stammered.

"Well, I can also offer you some alcohol pads," the nurse suggested before shrugging and leaving them alone when Nathan didn't jump on that offer either.

Nathan looked out the window and felt mildly surprised that it wasn't dark yet. Having lived through Maine summers his whole life, he knew very well when it got dark, but it felt like hours and hours had passed since they had gotten to the Gull. He frowned, wondering if he'd get an earful for reflexively blaming Duke - both the irritable bartender and the abashed server had tried to explain what happened just before they left to go to the ER.

Disappointment that the night hadn't gone as planned forced a sigh out of him.

"Nathan?" Jess asked, sounding worried despite her scratchy voice. "What are you-"

Right then and there he decided that he could continue to mope or make the best of things. Turning to her, he got down on one knee. "I suppose this doesn't make the same impression as having the ring in a clean and wearable state would but…" He dared to look up at her, pleased to see that she looked thrilled. "Jess, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she said, and it came out clearer than anything else she'd said the past fifteen minutes.

Nathan was tempted to ask her if she understood that accepting his proposal meant that she was saying yes to Haven too, with all its quirks and foibles, not just him. But deep in his heart he was sure that she knew that. The night before he'd been shot he'd asked her if she would stay, and nothing she'd done or said implied that she would ever again try to run away when things got too difficult. Somehow, he thought that if they ever did leave Haven it would be because he wanted to, not because she suggested or demanded it.

"I love you," he said instead, knowing that his old worries didn't have any place in that moment.

"I know," she rasped, and then grinned when he shot her a look. "I love you too."

Nathan beamed at her. "I guess this means we're stuck with each other."

Jess shook her head, obviously trying not to laugh like she was afraid it would hurt to. "You always say the most romantic things, Nathan."

To his own surprise, this had him blushing. "Well, I try."


	2. All is Right in Haven

Meanwhile

Audrey held the door open for Duke, and he gave her a tired smile, noting that she at least was already in her pajamas despite the relatively early hour. He couldn't wait to get into his own, or at least what he wore in lieu of pajamas, so he pulled his shirt up over his head and striped off his jeans before he did anything else. It didn't escape his notice that she was watching him undress with interest. Once he was more comfortable in boxers and a t-shirt, he turned to her in anticipation of the question that he knew she was dying to ask.

"So...did she say yes?" she asked the second he made eye contact.

Duke shrugged. "Things did not go off without a hitch."

This made Audrey give him a confused look that bordered on disappointment. "She said no, then?"

"She didn't say yes or no. Danny gave her the wrong wine, and..." He sighed deeply, still confused about how Danny's mistake was his fault. "She was supposed to get a white wine, not a merlot. The wine was so dark in color she didn't even notice the ring in the bottom."

"You're not saying she drank it, are you?" Audrey asked incredulously.

He made a dismissing gesture with one hand. "Drank it would imply that she hadn't choked on it. Fortunately, Nathan is pretty good at the Heimlich."

"No!" Her hand rose to her mouth.

"Yes. That yearly first aid certification class you were complaining about a few months ago certainly paid off for him." It still boggled Duke's mind that he'd witnessed Nathan giving his own girlfriend the Heimlich in the Gull's dining room, but he couldn't deny it. And he still couldn't tell if choking on a ring was better or worse than swallowing one and waiting for it to pass through your system. He didn't know about Jess, but he thought he'd preferred the former himself.

"Is she okay?" Given that Audrey and Jess were friends, it wasn't surprising that she was worried.

"That's for an ER doc to determine," Duke groused. "But she seemed okay to me. Of course Nathan blames me, like I set him up."

"Of course," she agreed, making him raise an eyebrow. "What? I know him well enough to know that he'd think that." When he grimaced, she held her arms out to him. "Aww poor Duke, no good deed goes unpunished."

"No kidding," he sighed, hugging her for a moment before pulling her onto the couch with him. When Audrey settled against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her middle with a contented sigh. "This is all I wanted to do since Nathan put Jess into his truck to drive to the hospital: come up here and hold my girl."

A soon as the words were out of his mouth, the wrist nearest her belly was sharply jabbed. "And boy," he added, as if the words could mollify the baby within. "Doesn't that hurt when he does that?"

Audrey turned her head so she could smirk at him. "You get used to it."

"I don't think I could get used to something squirming inside me."

"Then I don't think alien abductions are for you," she said, reminding him that he'd forced her to sit through the entire Alien trilogy during the spring. He still hadn't found an effective way to cajole her into watching the more recent semi-sequels.

"Yeah, or being that pregnant man," he retorted.

"Technically-" she began, but he cut her off.

"I know, I read the article in Time."

"Ah. You'd better hope no one ever has a trouble to bring that sort of thing about, though," she cautioned with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"That couldn't happen, could it?" he asked, slightly alarmed by the idea even though he knew she was teasing. Andy Kale had brought a lot of things to life, what if he'd been the fan of the Sims instead of Nathan's father? Not that Duke would ever admit that he'd figured out the Chief's vice from an off-hand comment Nathan had made back during the spring. It was a game popular with several of his younger servers, so he'd heard enough about it before to put two and two together.

"I dunno, Duke..."

Smirking back at her, he said, "Guess I'd better never cheat on you with another man just in case."

Her elbow dug into him, making him wince. "You better not cheat on me with anyone, buster."

"Oh yeah, that's what I meant," he said, leaning to kiss the nape of her neck.

"Uh huh."

They reclined on the couch in a companionable silence... at least until the baby pressing on Audrey's bladder forced her to get up to pee. She sighed and toddled off to the bathroom for what seemed like the twelfth time since breakfast.

When she got back Duke was sitting up normally, to her disappointment. Looking up at her, he asked, "How was today's session?"

Audrey let her hand flutter in a so-so gesture. "Kind of boring."

Duke sighed and she hated seeing the residual guilt on his face. Although it actually was his fault that she'd started therapy - the department's health insurance provider had insisted on it after they'd been led to believe she had been the one to shoot officer Gagnon - she didn't resent him for it; after all, he'd already had her half-convinced to seek therapy out on her own before the order had come down from on high. A conversation with him about it had revealed that he felt like he'd forced her hand through his actions, which she consider ridiculous considering the swift decisive actions he'd taken that day had kept her from being murdered. But feelings are often divorced from sense, or so Claire has told her in sessions.

"Mostly she wanted to talk about how I feel about going on maternity leave next month."

"Again?"

"Yup. For some reason she seems to think I'm going to have a really hard time with it." When he laughed at this, she swatted at him. "It's not that funny!"

"Yeah, actually it is. Everyone realizes that you're going to have a hard time but you," he said, patting the cushion next to him to get her to sit back down, which she did after making a face at him.

"I'm not delusional. I know I'm going to feel left out when Nathan tells me what's going on in my absence. But things have been a lot calmer this year, so it's not like I'm going to feel like me being involved is literally a matter of life and death. At worst I'm going to be bored."

"But not for long," Duke predicted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded to know.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. By Halloween I'm going to be down in The Gull with junior in a baby sling while you're off helping big brother, officially off leave or not."

"First, we're not naming him Duke junior-"

"Figure of speech, Audrey. I don't want a namesake. I want something better for my son. Maybe Prince... or Blanket."

Audrey groaned, the name of the baby being a decidedly hot topic. She cut it off decisively by punching him firmly in the shoulder. "And second, if one of us brought him to work with us, why would it be you instead of me?"

To her shock, all of the good humor left his expression. Tone deadly serious, he quietly asked, "How many times have you been knocked around on the job?"

Her automatic impulse was to protest, but she forced it down. A one hundred and twenty pound person could endure a lot more abuse than a ten or twelve pound one. "Right. Babies are not made for fieldwork."

This was apparently the right thing to say, because he relaxed a little. "Did Nathan tell you?"

"Tell me what?" she asked blankly. All she wanted Nathan to tell her was if he was engaged, and that was making it hard to think of anything else on the Nathan front. When she looked at Duke, she realized he was trying desperately not to smile. "Come on, what?"

"If we get into a bind, he's had someone volunteer to baby-sit for us."

"Jess," Audrey said promptly.

To her surprise, he shook his head. "No."

"Then who?" she demanded to know, hoping it wasn't Vince and Dave. When she'd first met them she had considered the brothers charming, but that was before she knew they'd been manipulating her, Nathan, and Duke. Maybe Dwight as well.

"The Chief," Duke announced gleefully. "But only if I'm helping you and Nate, not for a date night or anything."

"Wow." It was hard to picture the gruff older man baby-sitting.

"Yeah." He looked amused. After a while he asked, "Did you and Claire talk about anything else?"

Audrey shrugged. "She tried to get me to open up about teenage misdeeds, but I was a boringly well-behaved kid."

This had him looking excited and she couldn't imagine why until he asked, "Wanna hear about the first time Nate got drunk?"

"You were there?"

"Of course."

"Of course," she echoed. He didn't seem to mind when she leaned against him. "Tell me."

"It was homecoming weekend our senior year of high school, and I'll have you know it was his idea." He paused, obviously waiting to see if she'd challenge this, so She made a 'go on' gesture. "Things went pretty much like they always do when 17-year-olds drink, and we were lucky the Chief got called out for something so we could sleep it off. Except I fell asleep first, and Nate kept drinking... I woke out of a sound sleep when he yelled something. When I opened my eyes I found him in tears, talking to an empty bottle."

"Right," she said skeptically.

"No, really!" Duke insisted.

Taking the bait, she asked, "what was he saying to it?"

"He was apologizing to it. 'I'm sorry I called you empty. I'm the one who's empty...'"

"I..." She just shook her head.

Duke smirked at her. "Promise you won't leak that to Claire. I don't want to land another person on her couch."

Looking confused, she asked, "Why would that...?"

"Alcohol lowers inhibitions."

"Oh, I know," she remarked, obviously alluding to how their relationship had started.

Duke rolled his eyes until she kissed him. "He expressed bottled up emptiness," he explained. "She'd probably find something to read into that."

"She'd find something to read into his favorite flavor of ice cream."

"I'm glad you're getting along so well with your department-ordered therapist."

"She's all right. Just...aggressively cheerful," Audrey told him. "It's weird, right? For someone to be that happy despite knowing all the gory details."

Duke leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I think you've just been in Haven too long."

Her eyes softened. "But it's where you are, so where else should I rather be?"

"That is a good point..." he drawled. "Hey, guess what came today."

"Something you shouldn't tell me about so I don't have to arrest you for possessing?"

"Nah. Not today. Today those massage oils I ordered came in. Want to try them out?" He paused, then added, "I mean I'd try them on you, obviously. You can pay me back in, say, three months."

"I knew there was something I loved about you, Duke. Your generous spirit."

"Tell me more," he demanded, unpacking the box in question.

"Well, I do like the way your eyes sparkle when you're up to no good..."

* * *

Later

Duke must of had a long day, or so Audrey surmised after having to wake him up and point him at the bed after he fell asleep towards the end of watching **Scream**, which they'd put on a couple of hours after retiring the new massage oils. Once she got him momentarily conscious, he yawned loudly and poured himself into the bed. Five minutes later he was snoring.

Audrey herself wasn't tired yet, so she returned to the couch to finish watching the movie. It was one she'd seen before, but she did like it enough to see it through. As the credits rolled, she looked over to the bed with a fond smile.

A lot has happened since New Years. The biggest change being that Duke has all but moved into the apartment with her, and no longer charged her rent because of it. Once in a while they slept on his boat, but they never slept apart. Not any more. And Duke had recently begun to make noise about buying a house. She understood his desire for more space, but she was in no rush to move. Not that she'd outright refused to, just not yet she told him. He hadn't like it, but he hadn't made any ultimatums yet, either.

Other things changed too, not that she could adequately explain to Duke or Nathan why they made her feel so uneasy. Nathan was happy that after the incident with Gagnon things settled back down to what passed for normal in Haven, and clearly didn't share the sense of foreboding she was unable to shake. Her brother kept telling her that there was nothing to worry about now that the Driscolls and Carrs no longer held sway over anyone in town. And the more time that passed, the surer he became that there was nothing more threatening on the horizon than garden variety troubles. Thinking of this, she just shook her head. If Nathan hadn't become certain that the worst was past, she doubted that he would have been able to move on with Jess, so in a way she was glad that he kept his head down and hoped for the best.

Sighing, she turned off the TV and DVD player. If only his big night had gone more smoothly. She wished someone would give her an update...

As if reading her mind, someone knocked on the door. She cinched her robe around what was left of her waist and hurried to the door, hoping Duke would remain asleep. When she glanced back she was relieved to see that he hadn't started.

It was on her mind to bawl whoever it was out, but opening the door reveled Nathan. For a moment she was afraid to look up at his face, but when she finally dared to she found that he was beaming.

"Hey," she said quietly, stepping out on to the deck and shutting the door behind her. Nathan looked surprised until she said, "Duke's already in bed."

"Oh."

"So?" she prompted, sensing that she'd accidentally caused him to lose his train of thought.

Nathan held his arms out to her, and she let him hug her. After a moment he smiled down at her and said, "Congratulate me, Audrey. I'm engaged."

"Nathan!" she exclaimed, hugging him tighter. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks." He glanced at the closed door, which puzzled her until he said, "We deserve to be happy. Right?"

"Of course," she started to say, but she was intercepted when a sharp kick from the baby made Nathan jump.

He laughed nervously. "You must be getting sick of that."

Audrey cocked her head, wondering if she should tell him that Duke had recently said something similar. She decided against it. The two thought alike more often than either would ever admit...

Nathan sighed. "When he wakes up, can you tell him that I don't blame him for tonight? The staff explained what happened. He had nothing to do with the... mix up."

"I will. Jess is okay, right?" she blurted out when she realized that she hadn't asked.

"She's fine," Nathan reassured her. "Just a sore throat."

"Oh good," she said and relaxed. "Give her my congratulations too."

"I will," he told her. "And I better let you get some sleep too."

"Nathan?" she paused until he looked at her. "Thanks for coming by and letting me know that it worked out."

He chuckled. "Would you have slept if I hadn't?"

She thought about how difficult it had already been to keep from giving into the impulse to call him and/or Jess to beg for information. "Maybe."

"Oh Audrey," he sighed, but he was smiling too. "Night, sis."

"Good night, Nathan. And congratulations again."

"Thanks."

She was pretty sure she could hear him humming as he headed back to his truck. Sighing contently, she went back in and finally got into bed with Duke, feeling like for once all was right in Haven.

* * *

_a/n: Uh...you know we were expecting a REACTION to this chapter given the reveal. Feedback?_

_Sorry, Guest, but we have no interest in writing Audrey-Nathan of any length (I read a little of it, though). Perhaps you should approach another Audrey-Nathan fan with your ideas for a long fic and write one together. I'm sure it'd find happy readers!_


	3. A Fair Day

Friday

Audrey's corner of the office was a bit more crowded than it usually was, and not just because there was considerably more of Audrey lately than there had been before, either. At Nathan's insistence, there was an ottoman by her desk, and she dutifully put her feet up on it - well, after he chewed her out for complaining one too many times in his hearing about being achy when it would have probably helped if she stopped ignoring it, she did.

In some ways Nathan was even more irritatingly helpful than Duke was. Duke didn't try to keep her from doing anything she wanted to, except for him. Part of her was amused by his self-imposed vow of celibacy the past few weeks, and the rest was annoyed, especially since he'd never actually tried to explain himself, just found increasingly creative ways to distract her whenever she offered even the slightest hint that she wanted him. Reminding herself that he was trying to be responsible only helped her frustration so much...all her books said that it was fine to continue relations even in the third trimester, but they didn't address male irrationality. Or was it a sort of over-inflated estimation of their attributes that led men to worry they might do damage? She never did quite figure that one out.

That wasn't something she could talk to Nathan about either, so instead they argued about things like doing anything remotely dangerous in the field like chasing after a suspect, or in the office like lifting a box of copier paper down from a shelf.

As she used her belly to balance a clipboard on while filling out a form, she was also toying with the idea of doing something crazy like trying to move a small filing cabinet without his permission because she was bored enough to break up the monotony with instigating a lecture, but then her eyes lit up when Jess walked through the door.

"Hi," Nathan mumbled, suddenly seeming shy and awkward around the woman he'd just proposed to. It was better than angry or morose, Audrey supposed.

"Hey, Jess," Audrey called, putting the clipboard back on her desk.

"Audrey," Jess said warmly. "How are you today?"

She smirked. "As well as can be expected."

"Hmm." Jess nodded. "I was hoping to invite you and Nathan to lunch. Up for it?"

Nathan got over his shyness by snorting. "Lately she's eating everything that isn't nailed down."

"Nathan!" Jess scolded before Audrey could think of a clever retort. "It's better than when she could only keep cupcakes down a few months ago."

"God!" Audrey sighed, thinking about it. "That sucked so hard."

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Only because it was specifically _Larissa_'_s_ cupcakes."

"I know, why was that?" Audrey whined.

She hadn't meant to ever eat anything from Larissa's again, not after people steered her towards Rosemary's. But Stan's wife had brought in cupcakes on his birthday, fretting that Rosemary had been all out. Audrey had only attempted to eat one out of politeness and actually kept it down. For the next seven weeks after that she had eaten a steady diet of them.

"It felt like I was being punished for something." Looking at Nathan she preemptively snapped, "Don't you say it was divine punishment for letting Duke knock me up or-"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Nathan said blandly. Too blandly. Both women gave him sharp looks. He sighed and looked at them. "Well are we going to lunch?"

"Yes?" Jess said, sounding uncertain.

"Not at the Gull," Nathan suddenly demanded.

"I never said I was going," Audrey replied. Even she thought she sounded petulant.

Nathan cast her a look. "Don't you get sick of eating there?"

"No. Well, not this trimester."

This made him roll his eyes. "Audrey-"

"All right, all right. But I'm not up for pancakes," she told him, struggling to get out of her chair. She ignored his silent offer of help and finally managed to get to her feet. "People like pancakes way too much for my comfort around here."

Jess gave her an interested look. "What level of pancake consumption would make you comfortable?"

"Once every year or two?"

"You eat waffles a lot more often than that," Jess pointed out.

"Well, yeah. Waffles are better."

Jess opened her mouth to argue, but Nathan held up his hand. "Oh no. I can't endure another conversation about pancakes versus waffles. I don't even want pancakes anymore."

"But this morning you said..." Jess trailed off suddenly.

"There are a lot of places on Route 1 that serve things other than pancakes," Nathan told them in an effort to move things along. "First let me let someone know we'll be gone for about an hour, all right?"

"Right." They watched him stalk out of the room.

As soon as they were alone, Audrey threw her arms around Jess, at least as well as she could with her belly in the way. "I'm so glad you said yes."

Jess looked surprised at first, but her expression changed once Audrey spoke. "Me too."

"Just think," Audrey told Jess, watching for Nathan's return. "A year ago I didn't even know I had a sibling, now I'm getting a sister-in-law. That's pretty cool."

"I'm glad you approve," Jess said just before Nathan returned and took her arm.

Audrey smiled, thinking that Nathan could have made worse choices. Then the newly engaged couple distracted her by being to debate where they'd go for lunch. Audrey didn't really care despite her earlier teasing, just as long as no one tried to stop at Larissa's on the way back.

* * *

Sunday

Haven welcomed fall-like temperatures with all the ardor of a long denied lover. The complaining stopped for all of five minutes before it restarted, this time the citizenry regaling all who would listen tales of woe caused by late season allergies. It was height praise indeed. Duke mused absently on why life long New England residents believed complaining was the highest form of compliment as he walked the broad path that lead down to McAllister's Field. Given the popularity of the event, the only available parking had been about a mile from the fair gates. The huge fair grounds sat quietly at the far edge of town. For most of the rest of the year, there were farm animal swap meets and minor events. However its crowing glory was the Haven Harvest Fair.

No one in Haven would ever admit that the fair was held in August to avoid overlapping the bigger, more well-known fairs in New England, but it was probably true. As it was, thousands of people, many of them from places much farther flung than the Derry or Little Tall, visited Haven's fair each year.

Audrey had been irritated at him when he drove her up to the gates and told her to get out of the car. She'd reiterated again and again that she was pregnant, not dead, dying, lame or injured. They'd had a minor row in the car, and it ended when she suddenly saw reason. She'd smiled sweetly at him, fluttered her eyelashes at him, then leaned over and kissed him deeply on the mouth.

It had left him breathless and cursing his unborn child briefly that he couldn't, or rather wouldn't, be able to act on his physical desire for Audrey until after his son had been born. Audrey still hadn't gotten out of him why he stopped trying to talk her into bed at the six-month mark, mostly because he figured she'd tease him about worrying about somehow harming the baby. He knew she'd say he was being silly because he'd thumbed through one of her baby books while she was in the shower and it said the idea was laughable, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that it would be risky somehow. It was about the longest he'd ever gone without female companionship of the baser kind since he discovered sex, and he wondered if Audrey could ever appreciate his sacrifice. There was, after all, a reason why Duke had been considered to be very knowledgeable about where all of the single women lived in Haven.

It wasn't until after he parked the old Land Rover well up the road that he found out that she'd used his distraction with the kiss to steal his wallet. He had a feeling that he was going to be paying for what was intended to be an act of chivalry for a very, very long time. Probably in monthly installments to the credit card companies. Still, he didn't really mind. If anything, he was sort of proud that a little of his crookedness had rubbed off on to Audrey. It was kind of like having a beautiful silver statue with just enough tarnish on it so you could see every detail of the masterpiece while still retaining most of the mirror bright shine. And she was his and bearing his son. He might have to be in the ignominious position to beg the 6 dollars he needed to get into the fair, but it was worth it.

Best of all, his child wouldn't have to grow up living the way he had. He would know both of his parents, and there'd be no more killing to cure the troubled. Duke would ensure his son's trouble never activated, that he'd never go through something so horrible that his curse would begin anew. His son wouldn't be a murderer just because he was born with a genetic quirk. He could feel the contours of a grin reshaping his face.

Behind him a small herd of school kids raced down the path. "Hey! Hey!" he shouted, bringing the stampede to a halt.

A puffing woman ran up behind him, leaned on his shoulder and took a moment to catch her breath, and with a wheezy exhale, thanked him. When she could speak without gasping she called her class to order. "Now class, we can't just run off like that." Two of the children started hopping in place, and then bounced, literally, down the trail. The teacher rolled her eyes. "Jonathan, Timothy! Get back here!"

The bouncing children bounced back to the group, which milled around.

"Mrs. Galledan, I gotta goooooooo!"  
"You didn't say that I couldn't jump. You only said I couldn't run."  
"BJ Nelson said a cow barfs its dinner up and eats it again, is that true, Mrs. Galledan?"  
"BUTTERFLIES!"

Duke winced at that last exuberant call.

The harried woman made a supreme effort not to roll her eyes. "There are bathrooms just outside the gate, Jeremy. You have to stay where you can see me, Timothy. Yes, Charlotte, BJ is correct. And those are painted ladies, Gretchen. There are roots in the path that might cause your downfall you if your run, hop, or locomote yourself at a speed other than a sedate promenade."

Ten children stared at their teacher. The teacher stared back at the children.

"She said walk or you might trip," Duke offered, helpfully.

Jonathan, still hopping in place while turning circles, yelled "You speak Old Lady?!"

The look on Mrs. Galledan's face promised dire retribution. "No, I speak Mrs. Galledan. She was my teacher when I was in first grade. She taught me lots of words that helped me out when I got older."

The children assessed this new information. They stared at Mrs. Galledan and at her leaning post. "Wow, Mrs. Galledan, you are really, really, really, old," Timothy pronounced with authority.

Mrs. Galledan laughed. "I guess that makes you just really Old, Du... Mr. Crocker. Now come along children, the fair will still be there when we get to the gate." The little troop moved off, the venerable Mrs. Galledan herding her charges like cats in front of her. As they began to stray, she shot a glance at Duke. "Well, are you going to help me?"

He started for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure." Jogging up beside the pack on one side he prevented anyone from bolting into the woods. Mrs. Galledan answered questions from the packs other flank.

Timothy and Jonathan had once again began hopping in the middle of the group. As predicted, Jonathan landed, and tumbled to the ground. Laughing he stood up and brushed the dirt and dead grass from his clothes. Timothy crashed into him, and they were both went down in a small, madly giggling dust cloud. It reminded him of some of his tussles with Bill and Jeff.

A tug on his shirtsleeve brought his attention to a young girl with blonde hair. "What's up?" he asked casually.

"Momma said you put a baby in Officer Parker's belly. Is that true?" Blue, guileless eyes stared at him.

"Uhhhh..." Duke started. How on earth was he supposed to answer that? He looked to his old teacher for guidance and the look he got in return was one that clearly said "you are on your own, there, bucko." Seeing no help was forthcoming from the woman, and feeling that perhaps truth was in order, for once in his life, he replied "yes?" If the child did hear the questioning inflection to the response she didn't react to it.

"Oh. Momma says that you are destined to go to hell and putting the baby in Officer Parker's belly is just your method of dragging her down with you." The cherubic child paused. "Are you going to hell because it's cold in the winter? Father Damien doesn't make it sound like it's a good place to go. I think it might be better to be cold."

There was a cut off sound of a coughing, and now that the dust cloud had settled he could see Mrs. Galledan helping the two boys up. She apologized to both of them for choking on the dust. Dust my ass, Duke thought. "Officer Parker and I are not going to hell." Inspiration struck. "God wouldn't allow people going to hell to have a baby together. Consider your parents. Are they making plans to go there?"

There was a mute shake of the head.

"Well, there you see? No one's going to hell." Satisfied he attempted to distance himself from the conversation.

"Mr. Crocker?" The little girl's voice stopped him. "Mr. Crocker? Will you put a baby in my belly so that I don't have to worry about going to hell? It doesn't sound very nice."

Duke gaped, realized he was gaping and shut his mouth. Then he reopened it to say something, and shut it again. He raised his hands and was utterly dumbstruck.

Behind him he heard familiar laughter.

"Charity, is it?"

The girl nodded.

Nathan's eyes sparkled with mischief as he passed the stunned pirate and knelt down in front of the girl. "You're too little to have a baby. You know the rides at the fair that say you have to be this tall to ride?" Nathan held his hand a good 5 feet off the ground and received a nod in reply. "Well, it's like that. If you're too little, you can't have a baby. It wouldn't fit."

"Oh. OK." Charity ran off to join the rest of her class milling around aimlessly since the small parade had stopped.

Nathan and Duke eyed one another, Duke supremely glad for the last minute save but worried about Nathan's inevitable revenge for it. Jess came up behind the two men and gently rested a hand on a shoulder of each. "And is why I'm glad that Duke and Audrey are having a child first. We can practice parenting on your nephew because I am not ready to deal with those questions." The dark haired woman turned and faced her not-yet-brother in-law.

Nathan nudged her when Duke scowled at his fiancée. "I don't think you're supposed to say that in front of the parents, Jess."

"Oh." Jess didn't look remotely chastised.

"And in Duke's defense, Charity's parents are very strict Catholics. She's one of 7 children, with an 8th on the way. With that many kids, I'm sure she knows more about babies than Duke does at the moment," Nathan explained. "Definitely more than me."

He and Jess, as well as Duke moved forward down the path, which the kids took as the gesture to start moving along again. Mrs. Galledan's face was nearly red and there were tears in her eyes from suppressed laughter. A clear field of about 20 feet separated the children from the adults.

"It's not that funny," Duke growled at her. He knew his cheeks were flaming from the sheer heat he felt through them.

"Of course not, dear," she replied, in a patently patronizing tone that he remembered well from first grade.

Nathan came abreast of his not-brother-in-law. "Oh yes it is."

Duke cast a look at Jess. Surely she could see that it wasn't that funny. She just shrugged her shoulders and looped an arm around Nathan's waist. The stone in the ring glinted brightly, making him wonder vaguely what they'd done to clean it. Nathan dropped his arm around her shoulders. Duke couldn't help but smirk as soon as he noticed. Surely he and Audrey weren't this pathetically obvious in public?

Nathan, still with more then a little humor in his eyes quietly inquired "So are you going to save my sister from the ravages of hell and marry her?"

Duke bared his teeth in something approximating a smile. "You want to have a double wedding, how sweet."

"No, just worried about my sister's immortal soul. I mean, she is having your kid," he replied, serenely. "That has to be a black mark against her."

Several thoughts went through Duke's head. Most of them would get him hit by someone if he voiced them. "Nathan, I'm a Buddhist and she's a … whatever. No one's immortal soul is in danger."

Jess cocked her head. "You don't even know what religion Audrey is? How are you going to raise the baby, then? Surely morals and ethics are important to teach?"

Duke glared at Nathan before addressing Jess's question. "Audrey and I both decided that we don't want our kid cowed by fear of hell, or brainwashed into some cult with government recognition." Jess blinked at the other man's description of religion. "We want our kid to learn morals and ethics because it's what's right, not because if he doesn't behave he'll burn to a crisp. We intend to teach him a little of everything and let him pick his own path. And in case you hadn't noticed, neither of us worships in a house of faith regularly."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "You know there is something seriously wrong when you are talking about teaching a kid morals and ethics."

"I have morals and ethics, Nathan. They just don't apply to the general population."

"The pirate code is more of a guideline?"

"Exactly." Satisfied that Nathan understood his point, he jogged up to the gate. Audrey wasn't there.

Jess came up behind him. "Where is Audrey?"

"Somewhere in there," he replied, motioning to the large fenced in enclosure that held the fair grounds.

Nathan scowled. "You let a pregnant woman go in there alone? Do you not see how many people are in there?" He gestured to the sea of humanity that seemed barely contained by the chain link fence.

Duke glanced at Nathan. "Can you do me a favor? Can you just tell her that when you see her next?" He turned to Jess. "Jess, can I borrow six bucks? Audrey stole my wallet."

Jess sent an inquiring glance at Nathan, who dug out his wallet, muttering "How can he teach morals? He's corrupting my partner!"

Jess took the money Nathan handed her and promptly gave it to Duke, but jerked it away at the last second. "Ah, what happened?"

Duke stared at his feet. "I drove her to the gate and let her out. She decided I was being chauvinistic and then kissed me to distract me while she stole my wallet. I mean, what if I'd been pulled over?"

A snort came from the left. "For future reference, you have 24 hours to produce your driver's license if you need to, Duke. Besides which, don't worry, I left you a parking ticket."

Duke jerked his head around so fast he nearly got whiplash. "What? Why?"

"You failed to park a sufficient distance away from the fire hydrant." Nathan grinned openly.

"The fire hydrant was on the other side of the street!" Duke objected, throwing up his hands.

"Yep. I left the ticket in the window." Nathan turned to Jess. "Come on, you have got to try the fried Oreos." Together the pair disappeared into the crowd.

Duke dragged a hand down his face and groaned, sure that this was some sort of plot to have another meal at the Gull. What was it with this town and handing out parking tickets? Audrey could take up three spaces and got laughed at. He, on the other hand, got the rule book thrown at him. He figured living with a cop would ease the parking ticket mess, not exacerbate (thank you Mrs. Gelledan) it.

Sighing he set off into the crowd. At least he was tall enough to spot his girlfriend in the teeming mass of humanity that surrounded him. Last year Audrey had been working a security detail on the fair. She knew the grounds well and could have been anywhere. Still, she had his credit card and his cash. He knew what he'd do in her position. He headed to the commercial barns, where the fair vendors were housed.

Audrey was in Commercial Barn number 3, buying fudge. Duke walked up behind her, unnoticed in the general throng. He gently pulled a lock of hair. Audrey tossed her head irritably while directing the harried clerk to rocky road fudge. Changing tactics he took advantage of his height and blew gently over the top of her head. The blonde made a disgusted sound and ran her hand through her hair.

The smuggler was about to try giving Audrey's hair another tug when he was abruptly stopped. "Anyone ever tell you it wasn't nice to pick on pregnant women?" Dwight asked.

Audrey turned and saw she was fenced in between the father of her child and her friend. "Nope. Did anyone ever tell pregnant women not to pick on me?"

Audrey handed over a $20 and turned over her shoulder. "Thank you, Dwight."

Duke looked at her stunned. "Ok, I get my wallet stolen so you can go on a fudge free-for-all for dropping you off at the gate so you didn't have to walk and he gets a polite thank you?"

Audrey took her change back from the vendor. "Yes, he's not living with me. And he's a gentleman."

Both of the blonds laughed at the strangled noise of frustration Duke made. Audrey reached up and patted Duke's face. "I love you." Conspiratorially she turned to Dwight and whispered "Horrible mood swings. Hormones, you know. I'll be so glad when the pregnancy's over and he goes back to being normal."

Dwight grinned and slapped the other man hard enough to cause him to rock back and forth. "I've got to go back on duty. Good seeing you Audrey," he paused, nodding at the smuggler, "Duke." He was lost to the crowd in moments.

Duke looked down at Audrey, holding out his hand. She sighed and placed his wallet in it. The man rolled his eyes and placed it back into his front pocket, then made a note of stopping two booths over. He stared pointedly at the wallet chains, and Audrey just grinned. "Bet I could distract you long enough to get it unhooked." Glancing between the thick steel links and Audrey he realized the truth.

"There's no contest. You'd win," Duke conceded. He leaned down and left a light kiss on her head.

The pair roamed throughout the festival, admiring wares and chatting with townsfolk. Audrey fielded what seemed like endless questions about their soon-to-be little boy, but most of them were far politer than little Charity's had been. Duke ran interference when some people got a little to hands-on with Audrey. For some reason people felt that the much vaunted "baby-bump" was public property. Somehow, Duke would just be in the way of reaching hands. He wasn't able to stop them all, but he did make a reasonably effective shield.

* * *

_a/n: Don't say we never got you anything for Valentines =) Send some love back this way to us too, huh?_


	4. Eric

Finally having exhausted all of the commercial barns and vendor stalls on the thoroughfare, Duke and Audrey settled down to the serious business of finding lunch. Buffalo burgers, chicken on a stick, chocolate-coated deep fried sausages wrapped in bacon, pretty much any food the two could desire or have nightmares about were present. Duke decided to tempt fate and bought the infamous Large Fries. Audrey, having no idea what was coming her way, had chosen a more sedate soup in a bread bowl with shrimp and corn chowder.

Audrey had carefully balanced the bread bowl and drink and made her way to the open area with a stage billed as the "Tranquility Tavern" where she and Duke had elected to meet. It struck Audrey as moderately bizarre that there were things that resembled roofs over the tables, but the last year Nathan explained that the fair was rain or shine, and there was quite a tradition of rain. The fact that the stage's backdrop looked a lot like a tavern didn't bother her as much. Duke had told her the same thing about the weather Halloweens, but he'd opined that mother nature was out to get all New Englanders with its crappy weather, not Havenites in particular.

By virtue of her protruding stomach she had managed to get one of the sheltered picnic tables from an elderly couple that was leaving. She rested the plate containing her bread bowl on the table and struggled with her center of gravity to sit down rather than crash into the table. Looking down at her stomach Audrey muttered "You are almost as much trouble as your father is, Jared."

Her child's father's voice floated on the air to her. "Don't listen to her, Hiram. She knows not what she says."

"Oh yes I do, Jake," came a mumbled reply around a half eaten sliver of bread bowl. She twisted around to see Duke's lunch. "What on earth is that?"

Duke grinned like the cat that broke into the canary factory. "Large Fries." He set the fries on the table, and a few curious patrons looked on.

Audrey again spoke to her protruding belly. "Jason, I'm afraid your father lived only long enough to conceive you. He died of a massive french fry induced heart attack before you were even born."

Duke picked up a long fry, dipped it in ketchup and pointed at the unborn child in the woman seated across from him. "Melville, your mother doesn't understand. I blame all that city living. One day you too shall partake in the Large Fries."

"Melville? Really? Tell me you aren't serious," Audrey demanded, picking out a shrimp from her chowder.

Duke looked wide-eyed and innocent. "I thought Melville Herman Crocker would be a good name. You have to have it in that order because otherwise people might think we created a great white whale."

"You shouldn't make whale jokes around a woman this pregnant," Audrey told him with a glower before decisively crossed her arms in front of her. "No. We decided this already. No sea-themed names. No Ahab, no Ishmael, definitely no Brigadier, Hiram, Alberforth, Oglethorpe, and no naming him after pirates."

"What about Jeremiah?" he asked.

"Our son is not a bullfrog," she replied.

Duke grinned. "Kinda looked like one on the first ultrasound."

Dropping her arms Audrey turned back to the bowl of soup, grateful that the morning sickness had passed. "And now that song is going to be stuck in my head for days. Thank you so much, Duke."

Duke ate another french fry, this one dipped in mayonnaise. "Any time, Audrey."

The blonde woman shook her head. "And Jonathan is not going to get what amounts to a dog bowl filled with french fries. I mean, look at that thing. Even a full grown mastiff would be hard-pressed to finish it."

"If Ezra wants fries, he can have fries. With vinegar, ketchup, or mayonnaise." He pointed to each of the three toppings as he announced them, proud his world travels had introduced him to the wonders of fry toppings beyond ketchup.

"Justin will have better eating habits than his father, or certainly more sense in what goes on french fries!" Audrey reached over and dipped a french fry in ketchup, then popped it in her mouth.

"What is it with you and J names today? I never met a J name that I liked." Duke dithered for a moment over a choice of topping before sinking the fry in vinegar this time.

"What about Jeff McShaw?"

Duke finished chewing and swallowed. "Spelled G-e-o-f-f."

Audrey leaned over her quickly disappearing bowl of soup. "We could call him Nathan."

Duke mirrored her position, leaning over the dog bowl of french fries. "We could call him Garland."

"That would certainly make The Chief wonder," Audrey sat back, giggling.

Duke smiled triumphantly, pleased to have finally won the arguments they'd been having for months about the baby's name.

Audrey sat up straighter. "Ohhhh no, mister. We are not naming him Garland. He'll be used to trim a Christmas tree. On the subject of fathers," Audrey paused, worrying briefly at her lip before saying in a rush "I don't suppose you've considered Simon?"

Duke shook his head. "No, I don't want our kid named after anyone in my family. Hell, Audrey, I don't want most of my family and they don't want me. I'd rather not gather the attention of my older brothers, either."

She eyed the man in front of her speculatively. "Then what names should we avoid?"

"I'll let you know if you suggest any of them. Let's just say Dad's family had a thing with titles. Umm... Earl is right out."

Audrey's shoulders shook as she laughed. "Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke 'n Earl" she started singing.

Duke hid his face in his hands. "Greenleaf, I really hope you inherit my singing voice because your mother can't carry a tune in a bucket. Maybe not even in a pay loader."

Audrey stopped singing. "Greenleaf? As in Legolas Greenleaf?"

Still hiding his face, which he was sure was red with embarrassment again, Duke replied, "No, Greenleaf as in Greenleaf Whittier Pickard. He was a radio pioneer."

"Still... while I'm glad you know that though I'm not even going to ask why-"

"Fifth grade report on famous Mainers."

"-most people are going to think we are Tolkien fanatics if we go with Greenleaf." Audrey finished the last few bites of her bowl that weren't a soggy mess of bread. "James."

"Janwillem. It's on your J theme," Duke replied.

Audrey stared at him, hard. "Is there something about Maine that breeds odd names as well as odd men? Jacob."

"Sumner. And they aren't odd names. They're classic." Another french fry disappeared and he swatted at Audrey's hand.

Audrey retracted her hand, french fry gripped victoriously. "Fine. Rufus."

"Not a dog name. Hannibal."

"Not a fictional serial killer's name. Fredrick."

"Nah, Fred's too pedestrian. Albion."

"Sounds too much like caviar. Phillip."

"You know that movie 'Beaches?' I think of 'Phillip DeBrasier'. Edwin."

"That I could almost do, but not quite. Hmmm... Edmund."

"Nah, I hated that kid's character in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eric."

Audrey was about to object, but paused. "Erik. I could go with Erik."

The two paused, contemplating in silence for a moment. Abandoning the remaining fries in the dog bowl, Duke came around and knelt before Audrey and addressed the child directly. "What do you think, do you like Eric?"

Audrey replied for him, "I don't know about him, but I think we finally found a name we can agree on."

"You know, I saw someone that made signs, we could get a sign made up for the baby's... well playpen for now." Duke looked up from where he crouched at his girlfriend's feet.

The apartment would do for a while, but it was a single room studio. Either they were going to have to move to the boat or seriously consider buying or renting a house. Both options, he knew bothered Audrey. She was concerned for the baby's safety on the ship, and buying a house in town was a level of commitment that she wasn't sure she was comfortable with yet. The smuggler and pirate thought it was funny, in a sad way, that here he, the ultimate footloose and fancy free man of Haven was more willing to set down roots there than Audrey was.

The two set off down to where the woodworkers had set up a brightly colored display of names in large block letters. What ensued was an argument that raged for half an hour about if the spelling should be with a "c" or a "k" and an "e" versus and "ae" or a "y" versus an "i." At one point one of them even suggested sticking an "h" in there.

* * *

The 4-H junior cattle class was assembling when they got near the barns. Young teens and tweens had a hold of the beasts' halters and were leading them, single file, down an asphalt path where there was a break in the chain link border. Duke grinned and told Audrey, "You've got to see this." Together they followed the bovine parade through the fence.

The cops that were handling traffic control stopped traffic in both directions. The cows were lead across the road, lowing at the cars. One baulked at a dark blue Camry that carried two women that were staring back at the beef on the move. Its handler tugged on the halter and the cow moved off, following the rest of the herd. Audrey and Duke also crossed when Stan motioned to them. The group continued down the road for roughly an eighth of a mile until the stopped at a garage like building.

The car wash that the small group finally stopped at boasted that it would clean the spots off your Holstein! There were three bays for manually cleaning cars and an automatic drive through that had just been built the previous year.

Audrey looked at Duke quizzically and he told her, "That," he pointed to an old man in overalls that looked the part of a stereotypical farmer, "is Glenn Becker. Years ago right at the time of the fair, one of the mains broke that feed water to the fair grounds. Glenn's car wash still had water so he invited the competitors to wash their animals at the car wash. It's a tradition that's been going on for nearly 20 years now. The kids load the cows into the bays and use the power washers. Well, that's not strictly true. Glenn puts out barrels of whatever it is that they use to clean farm animals and the pressure's turned down considerably on the washers."

True to Duke's word, the kids anchored the animals using hooks that seemed to have been built into some of the bays for that purpose as cross ties. The problem was that there appeared to be only three bays and about a dozen cows. Only one cow and handler were allowed into the bay at a time. Audrey watched, fascinated, as the young boys and girls, dressed much like Glenn, grabbed the sudsy sponges from the pails by the doors of the bays and went to work soaping up their charges. Some of them were quite meticulous, ensuring every inch of hide was treated with lather before attempting to rinse off the shampoo. The cows themselves didn't seem to mind much, and passively tolerated the treatment.

In the background she absently noted Duke dancing in place while singing "Going to the cow wash..."

Two of the three cows were judged to be clean by their handlers and were moved out of the stalls after a thorough rinsing. They were unhooked and moved out of the bays and two more animals were loaded in. Duke watched Audrey watching the kids and the cows. It was a Haven quirk, but an amusing one, and harmless. He checked that thought as he noticed some shuffling in the back of the herd.

"Glenn, I think there might be some problem..." he started. Three of the cows were being directed out of line. The old man as well as most of the adults were on the wrong side of the wash bays to easily get back to where the kids were leading the cows. Seeing two men quickly rush towards her bay, a cow with a bubble crown and a lethal looking rack of horns lowered her head against the ties and mooed menacingly. Her handler quickly undid one of the ties and Duke and Glenn were allowed by, narrowly missing being kicked from the side.

Disaster was setting up in the form of 14-year-old Michael Grant. The Grants were transplants from Portland and wouldn't know the back end of a farm animal from the front, but his parents had still put him in 4-H to learn and gain some sense of responsibility. He was setting into motion a catastrophe. He lead his Jersey cow up to the car wash and pressed some buttons, and a great rumbling groan started as the car wash turned on.

While Duke wasn't an expert on animals, he had spent a fair amount of time around horses during his juvie days. A 1400 pound panicking animal was never good. Horses didn't like walking over tarps, and he couldn't imagine trying to lead one into a car wash that was turned off, never mind activated, but that was exactly what Michael was doing, and leading his three little friends on the adventure. Cows, Duke thought darkly, were unlikely to fare any better.

"Stop! Stop!" Glenn cried. His voice was lost over the sound of the machinery and scared, bellowing from the cattle.

Michael, feeling his charge was just being ornery, tugged the beast into the machine. The poor animal decided that perhaps suicide was better than waiting for this monster to come and consume her piecemeal, took off through the tunnel. With her bolting, the rest of the cattle took off too. Three more joined the stampede through the mechanical car wash, and two ripped out the tie downs and ran into the street. Car horns blared as people skidded off the road, inadvertently creating a wall the cows turned at.

Duke ran down the wall of the car wash, on the outside, fearing to enter the mechanism and make the situation worse. Prey animals shouldn't be chased. He cleared the edge of the building to see Audrey down on her side, Michael clinging to the edge of the building, and the three cows bucking madly like misplaced, transgendered, rodeo bulls.

Assessing that at least Michael was still on his feet and conscious, he raced to Audrey and dropped to his knees beside her. Duke was afraid to touch her, fearing to make any injuries worse. "Come on, Audrey, wake up, wake up!" Not getting a response from his voice, and hearing the sounds of sirens in the distance he yelled out, "Someone call an ambulance!"

Within moments the unit parked at the fairgrounds was present. Paramedics assessed Audrey and strapped her down to the backboard, then loaded her into the ambulance.

Nathan came up behind Duke before he could beg to go with her. "Come on, I'll give you a ride." Numbly Duke followed him to the Bronco and got in.

* * *

All of the sudden Audrey felt herself being swung through the air. It didn't make her feel better, or any more like wanting to open her eyes. So she didn't, and tried to figure out what the people who had just moved her and were pawing at her clothes were saying. This took her more concentration than she anticipated.

Over the sound of wheels being rolled away, she finally heard someone say "...bystander said she was kicked by one of those cows."

"That stupid kid! Did they know where it kicked her?"

"No. I'm concerned that she might have a concussion given she got knocked out."

There was some annoying poking and prodding at her head for a few seconds. "We should probably get her to CT. I don't see a mark on her but..."

Finally having enough of that, Audrey gathered up her wits and forced her eyes open. "I didn't pass out because I hit my head. But I could have afterwards I fell, I don't know."

"Hi," a nurse leaning over her said, suddenly sounding less brisk. "Why do you think you passed out?"

"Pain," Audrey told her. Her body obligingly gave her a reminder that it still hurt. "The cow kicked me in the belly and it hurt so-" Eyes wide with fright, Audrey stopped talking and looked at the nurse. "The baby!" If the cow had hurt her bad enough to make her pass out, what had it done to a fragile little baby?

It was only when she heard a sound beside her that she realized that the other person in the room had brought over ultrasound equipment. Her shirt was unceremoniously yanked up, but the woman in the lab coat spoke reassuringly. "Let's take a look, okay?"

"Okay," Audrey agreed tremulously.

She got more and more worried when the doctor looked dour as she glanced at the screen. "What's wrong?" she demanded to know after a minute. The doctor didn't look like that because she saw no problems. If it wasn't for the fact that baby Eric was kicking her, offering proof of life, her question probably would have come out as a terrified scream.

"The baby looks okay, but you're suffering a partial placental abruption," the doctor told her, as if that meant anything in particular to her.

As much as she wanted to cling to the words about the baby being okay, she knew that the doctor was telling her something serious. "I don't know what that means."

"The pain you felt is from the placenta partially detaching from the wall of the uterus."

"That sounds bad."

The doctor didn't sugarcoat it. "It is. We should consider delivering the baby now."

"But I'm not due for five weeks!" Audrey cried. She desperately tried to recall what her baby books had said about the risks and outcomes associated with a baby born that early, but was too upset and confused to recall any specifics other than a thirty-five week preemie having a pretty good shot at survival. She didn't want the baby to merely survive, though. Eventually, after scolding herself about calming down, her thoughts turned to one word the doctor had said. "Why did you say 'consider' instead of telling me I have to have the baby right now?"

The doctor sighed. "With the size of the tear it's possible that it could heal itself and you could continue the pregnancy."

"That, let's do that," Audrey said instantly. How could it even be up for discussion.

"You'd be on bed rest, possibly for the entire remainder of your pregnancy, and there's no guarantee that you still won't have to have the baby early."

"But I could go to term, right?"

"It's possible."

"Then I want to try," Audrey insisted. "Whatever it takes to give my baby a better start than I had."

The doctor gave her a sharp look, but Audrey didn't elaborate. Thinking about the mental image the Chief had painted of holding her newborn self as she cried from the pain of her stitches was too painful right then, and she'd be damned if she was telling the doctor what had happened to her own mother.

Instead of answering right away, the doctor turned her attention back to the ultrasound. Audrey could tell that she was looking at the site of the abruption again, but was surprised to notice that the other woman bit her bottom lip while she concentrated. "All right. If I tell you that the attempt is over, I don't want any arguing. As long as it looks medically safe, you can stay on bed rest and hope for the best. But the second I think it's going wrong-"

"Thank you," Audrey told her. "I won't argue if and when it comes to that."

"Good." The doctor gave her a considering look. "Now let's examine you for a concussion to see if we can rule out the need for a CT. No one could tell us if you hit your head when you fell."

"Okay," Audrey agreed, wondering if she'd have light flashed in her eyes.

* * *

Nathan cursed and laid on his horn a lot, but that hadn't made the cars leaving the fairgrounds at the same time as them move any faster. He'd considered putting the light on top of his roof, but worried that some people would perversely go slower because they were too startled by his uncharacteristic action to drive rationally.

Beside him Duke hadn't fretted or sworn. Instead he'd just looked at his hands folded in his lap. If not for the conversation they'd had a couple hours earlier, Nathan would have suspected that he was praying.

Eventually the crowd of cars had parted like the red sea for Moses, and they were soon in the parking lot of the hospital. It made Nathan shiver because he had so many bad memories connected to it from the fall before. He supposed they all did.

"Where's Jess?" Duke asked as Nathan cut the engine, looking around like he somehow expected her to materialize in the Bronco with them.

"She took her car to the fair because she had to work this afternoon," Nathan explained. They'd parted company after lunch about an hour before disaster struck.

"So she's already here?" Duke asked, confused.

Nathan forced down a sigh. He already knew that Duke was crap in a medical crisis, so he could hardly blame the man for acting in character. At least he doesn't run away when it all hits the fan, Nathan thought as he got out and make sure he and Duke were both heading in the right direction, so that was to his credit.

As soon as they reached the front desk, Nathan flashed his badge. "My partner, Audrey Parker, should have just gotten here." ." Somehow he thought that reminding them of his professional status would get him better service than mentioning his personal relationship to their patient.

The woman's eyes had flown to his face the moment she noticed the badge. "Sure Chief, she's in exam room three."

Before either of them had to ask, she came motioned for another nurse to come over and show them the way. Nathan pulled Duke aside, noticing that his sister's boyfriend still looked panicky. "That's a good sign."

"What is?"

"That she's in the e.r."

"As opposed to what?" Duke asked blankly. "The mor-"

"Labor and delivery?" Nathan said as if he expected it to be obvious what he'd meant.

Duke's face took on a green cast that had him kicking himself. Apparently worrying that the baby might come early wasn't something he'd thought of...until Nathan helpfully put the suggestion into his head. Grabbing him by the arm, he just said "Come on" and dragged him after the nurse that had gotten ahead of them.


	5. She

Duke stumbled to a stop the moment that the exam room number came into sight. Both Nathan and the nurse looked at him questioningly. The unpleasant memory of the morning Nathan had been shot had come back to Duke, and the helplessness he'd felt being barred from the room echoed in his head.

Turning to the nurse, he asked, "Can we..." he gestured towards the little exam room.

To his relief she nodded. "Go ahead, she's awake."

He practically tripped over his feet in his haste to reach Audrey's side, then skittered to a stop when he realized that a doctor was leaning over her. "It's okay," the doctor told him when she saw him.

"They're okay?" he asked, hoping that's what she meant.

To his disappointment the doctor looked unhappy. "I meant it's okay to come in."

"Duke," Audrey said plaintively, holding her arms out to him. He quickly hugged her, trying to be as gentle as possible. She clung to him a moment, and that more than the doctor's back-pedaling scared him.

He only realized that Nathan had come into the room when he heard him ask, "What's the situation, Audrey?" Glancing at the doctor, he just said, "her brother" in way of introduction. After Audrey's reaction to Duke's arrival it was pretty clear there was no need to explain _his_ relationship to her.

"Doc?" Audrey asked, a note of pleading in her voice. Duke reached for her hand - it couldn't be good if she wanted the doctor to tell them.

The doctor nodded briskly. "Audrey is suffering from a partial placental abruption."

Duke cast her an anxious look. "How serious is that?"

"Fairly serious," she replied, but her tone softened when she seemed to notice that both men were looking at her in horror. "In some cases we'd immediately deliver the baby-"

"But the baby's not full-term yet," Duke protested automatically. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. Obviously the doctor knew that. He could detect a hint of southern drawl to her voice which meant she wasn't local by a long stretch, but it stood to reason one of her very first questions when Audrey came to was to ask how far along she was. Hell, he thought, town rumor mill being what it was half the nurses probably could have supplied that information before Audrey even regained consciousness.

"I know. But in this case I think we might be able to avoid that because the injury your wife suffered wasn't that serious." Duke held his breath, waiting for Audrey or Nathan to correct the doctor. Neither did. The doctor didn't notice. "I think we might be able to manage this with bed rest."

"That won't be easy on you," Nathan commented to his sister. She gave him an unhappy little smile.

"Does that mean the baby's okay?" Duke asked after turning to the doctor, unable to the worry out of his voice.

"I did an ultrasound, and she seems to be fine."

"He," Duke corrected automatically. "We're going to call him Eric." He glanced at Nathan, realizing this was news to him.

The doctor shook her head. "She. Definitely she."

"But..."

Audrey looked as astonished as he felt. "She? A girl. Wow. I..." Audrey trailed off, out of words for once.

Duke squeezed her hand before looking up at the doctor. "Bed rest will fix things?"

The older woman gave a slight shrug, and Duke found himself wishing that Eleanor Carr was still someone that they could turn to when things got bad. He still couldn't figure out how such a decent woman had ended up with a worthless daughter like Julia... They were having a girl?

"You going to explain?" Nathan asked the doctor.

At any other time Duke probably would have been annoyed, thinking that Nathan was overstepping, but right at that moment he was just glad that someone had the wherewithal to demand real answers.

"Audrey wants to see if she can continue the pregnancy, get the baby closer to term. I'm willing to try, but if there's any sign that Audrey or the baby is in trouble, we deliver immediately."

"C-section?" Duke asked. Audrey's grip on his hand tightened.

"Probably. Mom has better odds that way in cases like this."

He gave the doctor a sharp look, and she didn't flinch. It was hard not to groan: he should have known that Audrey had volunteered to put herself in danger for the sake of their baby. _Just like her mother_, the thought came, unbidden. He tried to shove it away. It wouldn't go.

Trying to look brave, Audrey smiled at Duke and her big brother. "Doc here said after a few days I can go home and rest there."

"For the rest of the pregnancy?" Duke asked. He sure as hell hoped not because she wouldn't last five weeks in bed.

Another shrug. "'It's impossible to say now how well she'll heal."

For a moment he almost asked which she, but realized that the doctor meant Audrey. The baby hadn't been injured by the stupid cow. It was almost enough to make him decide to eat beef more often than once in a blue moon.

"What's 'a few' days?" Nathan asked over his shoulder.

"Three to start with," the doctor declared. "If she makes it that long."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Doc," Audrey complained.

Rather than dignify that remark with a response, the doctor turned to him and Nathan. "She'll be moved to a private room soon, but you're welcome to stay until then."

"And then?" Duke demanded to know.

"Visiting hours." She made a note on Audrey's chat. "They start at six."

"Six tonight?" Duke persisted.

The doctor gave him an odd look. "Of course."

At least it wasn't like when he'd been kept away the last time Audrey'd been hospitalized, scared out of her mind and convinced he'd abandoned her.

Looking back at the doctor, he became faintly suspicious. "Who are you, anyway? I thought we'd met all the OBs in town," he commented, referring to the local practice's policy of not assigning a specific OB to any patient so that the patient met all of the doctors who might deliver her baby.

"Laura Edington, MD," the doctor said calmly. "Today's my first day."

"As a doctor?" Nathan asked, looking aghast.

Edington scowled at him. "Working in Haven. I've delivered a couple hundred babies, I assure you."

Duke sort of liked the fact that she had given Nathan a dirty look. At least she wasn't cowed by the fact that he was the chief of police. Though, she probably didn't know that.

Turning back towards the woman in the bed, Edington said, "I'll be by to check on you later, once you're in your own room." Then she left the trio alone. Duke liked that about her too.

* * *

"Stay in bed," Nathan told his sister, his tone not offering room for argument.

Audrey wrinkled her nose. "Obviously."

Duke turned his head slightly, so she wouldn't see him smirk. Nathan might be acting like a slightly overbearing older sibling, but it wasn't like he could blame him for having doubts about how well Audrey would follow directions. It would be interesting once he got her back to the apartment and didn't have Haven's finest nursing staff around to scold her. Maybe he could borrow Jess, she'd done a damn good job getting Nathan to rest when he was the one cooped up at home...

Nathan's expression soften slightly, and he gave Audrey a hug before stepping back. The doctor had left the room, but a nurse had entered the room with an orderly, obviously ready to bring Audrey to whatever room she was going to be in until they let her leave.

Duke sighed when he realized that he was seconds away from being tossed out on his ear. So he hugged her too, and kissed her for good measure. "I'll be back at six."

"I know," she told him, nodding.

"You do?" For some reason this had him on the verge of laughing, even though he wasn't in a jovial mood.

It wasn't as bright as usual, but she did smile at him. And she motioned to herself. "How could you stay away from this?"

"You're right," he agreed, finally cracking a smile of his own. "Try to get some rest."

"I will, as long as he lets me-" She suddenly looked distressingly confused. "She, I mean she lets me."

"Right." It was going to take them both a while to wrap their heads around that. "Love you."

"Love you too," she responded instantly.

This made him feel a little better about everything. Once upon a time it had taken her a lot of effort to use the L word, but it now fell from her lips without thought. They'd come a long way in the past year.

"See you boys later," the nurse said firmly, making them both look at her. "We're going to move Ms. Parker to her room, now."

"Is she going to have a roommate?" Duke asked, curious. If she did, he hoped she didn't make the other person too insane. A sick Mainer was even less likely to be up for her level of chatter than a well one.

"No, the station's insurance allows for private rooms," the nurse said. Then looking Duke in the eye, she said, "But don't you get any funny ideas, Mister."

Once he grasped what she was implying, he had to bite his tongue hard to keep from telling her off. Even if his reputation preceded him, that was really uncalled for, especially given the noble sacrifice he'd been making for weeks and weeks. He settled on giving her a black look.

Nathan looked like he understood what Duke's problem with her statement was, and Duke found himself wondering if Audrey had told him...no, but maybe she'd told Jess, who had told him. He decided to believe that because the thought of Audrey wanting Nathan to know any more about their sex life than he already inadvertently did was just too weird to bear.

"Bye, Audrey," they both said after Nathan poked him to get him going.

Duke wanted to smack the nurse when she waved.

* * *

"Come on, I'll give you a ride back to your car," Nathan told him as soon as they had watched the nurse and orderly wheel Audrey away.

At least this time she wasn't being forced to go with them against her will, he thought, trying hard not to remember her anguish when she'd been admitted last. "Thanks, but no," Duke said when he realized that he hadn't responded to Nathan's offer.

The look Nathan gave him was skeptical. "You know they won't bend on visiting hours."

Lord did he know. Shaking his head, he just said, "I know. I have something I want to do before I leave though."

"Oh." From Nathan's expression Duke guessed he'd assumed that he wanted to order something from the gift shop to be sent to her room. That wasn't a bad idea, actually. "It's a long walk back to the fairgrounds," Nathan warned.

"I'll have someone at the Gull come get me," Duke explained. "I'm sure one of the busboys would jump at the chance to get out and do something different."

"All right." Nathan hesitated, obviously waiting to see if he'd change his mind. At least he could honestly report to anyone who might complain - most likely Audrey or Jess - that he'd offered.

"Thanks," Duke said before turning and walking away. When he glanced back, Nathan was headed in the opposite direction. Good, he didn't really want to be tailed.

Signs helpfully hung from the ceiling, as well as a map that gave him a clue about which floor he was looking for, allowed him to navigate to the right section of the hospital without any effort. He hadn't been sure that it would be a part of the hospital, since he'd heard in passing that a lot of hospitals had done away with them, but he'd suspected that a hospital with such an old school approach to patient care would stick with tradition. The hospital didn't disappoint in that regard.

Looking at the wall of glass in front of him, he couldn't help but think of a zoo trip he and Audrey had taken back during the winter. This glass didn't hold back polar bears that would eat you if hungry and given half a chance, though. Instead it overlooked what only the most deranged or selfish considered a threat...

Each bassinette was predictably decorated either blue or pink, yet another sign that the hospital was dragging its heels when it came to joining the twenty-first century. The thought of how a stringent policy-charged blogger from elsewhere might react if their hospital tried it almost made him laugh but he held it in, worried that he might disturb the sleeping babies if he did. It would be bad karma to cause other people's babies to scream, he was pretty sure.

Since Haven wasn't exactly a bustling metropolis, there were only a few newborns on display. Even this hospital didn't ignore the desires of many new mothers to have their babies in their rooms, so he supposed that there were probably more than eight newborns at the moment, some of them were no doubt being cooed over by their parents elsewhere.

There was no one else looking at the babies at the moment, which suited Duke. With no one else there, he wouldn't have to explain that the babies he was peering at had no relationship to him or anyone he knew, and he wouldn't need to tell a half-truth about wanting to know where his baby would be when he, no she, was born. Instead, he could be left alone with his thoughts.

Sometime back in a middle school science or health class, he'd learned that there were just about even odds of having a baby boy or a baby girl. It wasn't exactly 50-50, but very close. So, he figured that with eight babies there, four should be in pink, and four in blue. But that wasn't the case. Only two of the babies were girls.

Staring at the row of blue, he couldn't help but wonder if they were having a girl because so many other people had had boys. He realized that the suspicion was asinine, and knew that the baby had been a girl all along and the ultrasound tech at the OB's office had made a mistake, but still he couldn't help but imagine some cosmic force changing their baby to even things out a little better. "Idiot," he mumbled to himself.

He thought he was going to have a lot more trouble accepting the fact that "Eric" was a girl than Audrey, who well and truly seemed to have been sincere when she'd declared a boy or a girl would both be fine as long as it was healthy, would. He'd been the one who had felt a vast sense of relief in the OB's exam room when their child had been declared male, after all.

Being male would have meant that their baby would have gotten his trouble, not hers. He still had hope that the troubles would end someday and for good this time, but if they didn't, at least his trouble was one that could be lived with, especially since Nathan had been right to predict that no one would have realized that Duke had accidentally brought Nathan's father back and so far no one else had even demanded that he kill them. It was a trouble that could be lived with.

Hers on the other hand...It wasn't so much that he thought her trouble was awful, because it really wasn't, but he worried a lot about Audrey already given he'd learned that none of the women in her family had been long-lived. Her mother, well they both know how Lucy had died, but Sarah? Lucy had only been a couple of months old when something had happened to Sarah. And the article that had mentioned baby Lucy being found in a home on Green Street had noted that Sarah was the third woman in the family to die or disappear under mysterious circumstances... And now he had to worry about something like that happening not only to Audrey, but their daughter too.

_At least it's not like with Jean_, he found himself thinking as he looked at the babies. At least he'd be a part of this daughter's life, no matter how long or short it was. _It'll be long_, he told himself fiercely. It has to be.

"Duke?" a voice behind him startled him, and he almost sighed and readied his story about checking out the nursery when he realized it was Jess. "Audrey hasn't had-"

He shook his head and she stopped talking. "No. Nathan hasn't called you?" His panicky memories of Nathan dragging him to his truck were muddled, but he thought Nathan had been on the phone with someone while Duke himself had tried to remember how to open a car door.

"He left a message, but I haven't had time to listen to it," Jess said, looking a lot more worried than she had a minute before.

"Audrey got hurt when there was a stampede at the fair."

"Not literally," Jess said, expression doubtful.

"Yeah, literally. A cow bowled her over, kicking her in the process. They're going to keep her for three days, then bed rest at home."

"That sounds worryingly serious."

Duke hooked a thumb at the glass. "But not so serious that I'm here to see the baby weeks early."

"That's true..." She looked like she wanted to know why he was there then, but didn't ask.

"The doctor's optimistic that the baby won't come soon, and that Audrey will be fine," Duke said, letting wishful thinking make him seem more confident than he really felt.

"Good!"

"Um, we found out that the baby's a girl, too," he offered, figuring that would further distract her from giving too much thought about why he'd picked that spot to think.

"Really?" Her eyes widened. "Wow."

"Yeah."

"At least there's time to exchange stuff before her shower," Jess blurted out next.

He gave her a long look. "Right, because we're the most concerned about dressing a girl in blue."

"Oh Duke." She sighed. "It must be very strange for you."

"Yes, yes it is," he admitted, running one hand over his hair.

"Maybe the next one will be a boy," Jesse suggested.

Did he seem outwardly disappointed, he wondered then. He'd definitely have to brush up on his acting skills before visiting hours started at six, then. Eyeing Jess, he wondered how many other people thought he and Audrey would actually stay together long enough to produce more children. Somehow he suspected it was probably the minority view, and given his own father's history, he couldn't exactly blame people. "Could be."

Jess gave him a sheepish look. "I guess it's a bit premature to be talking about another baby when the first one isn't even here yet."

Duke cringed. "Could you not use the word premature, please?" he begged.

"Ah...sorry." Jess finally looked chastised in the way she hadn't when Nathan had told her not to tease him earlier in the morning.

"It's okay." Duke looked down at his watch. "I need to make a phone call, excuse me."

"Bye," Jess said awkwardly, looking like she was uncertain if she should apologize again.

He didn't want her to, he just felt the sudden urge to get back to his car. Hopefully one of the busboys would answer the phone or he really would regret turning Nathan's offer down.


	6. Worries

There was a semi-cool breeze by the time Duke went out to stand in front of the hospital's entrance. If he hadn't been so worried about Audrey and the baby (not "Eric" he reminded himself again), then he might have even enjoy it. As it was, he was just grateful to stand there and wait without sweating through his clothes.

An explosion of backfire made Duke turn to look as an old beater slowed down a few yards from him. The driver waved, and then rolled down the window - which surprised Duke quite a bit, given it didn't seem likely that a car in that shape on the outside still had functional air conditioning.

"Hey, Duke," Sam Haversham called. "Get in."

Duke gave the car a dubious look as he recalled hearing Sam's half of a recent phone conversation with his mother about whether or not buying a car was a good idea, but then decided that they'd probably survive the seven mile trip to the fair grounds. Probably. "Thanks, Sam," he told the teenager as he climbed in.

"No problem," Sam said with a smile.

He nodded slight. The nice thing about Sam was that he knew the boy meant it, and wasn't just trying to blow smoke up the boss's ass. As Haven standards went, Sam was usually extremely happy-go-lucky, and always ready to tackle whatever tasks Duke set him to, even if it was the sort of scutwork that had most of the rest of the staff bitterly complaining.

Maybe, Duke reflected, it was because Sam hadn't grown up in Haven. Hadn't grown up anywhere, actually. He'd just sprang from the ether as a fully formed high school junior, his mother along with him. As Sam drove along and hummed to the song on the radio, Duke wondered what he remembered from before last August. He didn't seem confused, so it had to be like Audrey in a way, he must have gotten a set of memories to account for close to sixteen years' worth of supposed existence before he was created in Haven. Maybe his hadn't been borrowed from anyone, though.

As they drove along, Duke found himself wondering if Sam was troubled. He'd been created as a by-product of Andy's trouble, but did that preclude him being troubled himself? Sam was as much from Haven as anywhere else on Earth...

"Do you mind if I turn this up a little?" Sam asked, glancing at Duke for a second before returning his eyes to the road. Nathan would be proud.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks, I love this song," Sam said, but his hand hesitated just before he touched the dial. "Um, is Audrey okay? I should have asked as soon as I picked you up..."

This had Duke wanting to cringe. Of course everyone at the Gull already knew why he'd needed a ride. There were no such thing as secrets in towns that small. "Well, they're keeping an eye on her, but the doctor is cautiously optimistic that she and the baby are going to be okay."

"Wow, that's good to hear," Sam replied, and he really did sound relieved. Probably because he liked Audrey too. Most of the Gull's staff did. "No one expects something bad to happen at a fair, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

As they left the paved road and got onto bare dirt, Duke was slightly surprised to see that the crowd had apparently thinned since the accident. His Land Rover was all by itself now, and had been flanked by other vehicles when he'd left it. It looked like half the people there earlier had already fled for the day.

"Sam," Duke said, reaching for the door handle. "Thanks a lot for giving me a ride."

"You're welcome."

"See ya later. I'm probably not going to come down today," he said, knowing that the boy would understand what he meant. It was no secret to anyone that he was living over the Gull now.

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Maybe."

He heard Sam start the song he'd wanted to hear over again as he drove off. Watching the kid go, he had to admit that there were some troubles that didn't lead to horrible outcomes. Some of the other manifestations of Andy's trouble had been hard on people, but it had provided Audrey and Nathan a lot of entertainment for a while, though neither had exactly used the word entertained.

Duke began to scan his windshield for Nathan's present, but he didn't see a parking ticket anywhere. So he looked inside the truck and on the ground for good measure.

It was only as bent to look underneath the truck to see if it had blown off that he realized that Nathan had been joking. There was no ticket.

Shaking his head, Duke vowed not to tell Nathan that he'd fallen for it.

Once upon a time, on one of the worst days of his life, at least aside from watching his father's boat sink when he'd been a boy, he'd told Audrey that Nathan was different when he was not troubled, and this was further proof of it. The only problem was that it had been so long since Nathan and his sense of humor had been on speaking terms that Duke still didn't know when he was joking.

Well, Duke thought as he got into the Land Rover, at least he'd have time to figure it out. Nathan could still feel, Audrey, Jess and himself the best so far, but other things to a degree too, so he'd have to learn how to cope with an untroubled Nathan. Untroubled Nathan yelled at him a lot less often, so it wasn't such a bad deal.

The clock on his new Smartphone told him that there were still three more hours until he could go back to the hospital, so he decided to wander over to the hardware store for cleaning supplies. Audrey would probably appreciate coming home to an immaculate apartment, and cleaning was something he could throw himself into for a while instead of driving his employees insane downstairs.

* * *

Audrey pressed the adjustment controls on the bed for what seemed to be the 500th time during the day. No matter how she positioned herself, it just wasn't comfortable. Some of it was physical, but most of it was emotional if she was honest with herself. She remembered the argument she and Duke had had early on in the pregnancy. She knew what he would choose if a choice had to be made between her and the baby, and wondered how angry he would be if he found out that Nathan had her medical proxy.

The mother-to-be had seen the look in her boyfriend's eyes when the doctor told them that the mother would have a better chance with a C-Section. The young blonde remembered early on in the pregnancy how Duke had been so very careful with her and of her, treating her like glass. It had worn on her nerves until they had had a fight that had just come short of blows. Words were said that couldn't be unsaid – and in vino, veritas. He'd been just drunk enough that he had told her that without a doubt, if there was any choice to be made between mother and child, he would choose the mother.

The baby had been an accident of fate. Something of an unexpected surprise, but to her a welcome one. When she had realized that her early morning nausea had not been the flu, but instead the symptoms of a growing life inside her, she realized the most important thing in the world that she could do would be to give this child a life worth living. Duke didn't seem to agree early on, showing more worry than joy at the prospect of being a parent, but she didn't realize why until it came out the week before the second ultrasound was scheduled, the one that would most likely tell them if the baby was a boy or girl.

After a couple more glasses of wine than he should have had, her share he'd joked earlier on in the night, he'd begun to tell her more about what he believed about souls. Then he'd frightened her when the topic veered into the interconnectedness of souls, and hers specifically.

Full of drink and undisguised worry for her, he had suggested that if the ultrasound revealed a girl, perhaps a discrete abortion should be done. "Audrey," he'd said, "If it's a boy, fine. He'd get my trouble, not yours. But you can't give up your soul. A girl might take yours," he'd then concluded the odd diatribe by revisiting the idea that he'd once expressed – that Lucy had passed along her soul when Audrey was born. Until then she hadn't realized that he had really been entertaining the theory anymore. "That's a risk I'm willing to take," she'd told him. He immediately asked "what if I'm not?" She had left then, and driven out to Nathan's.

The police chief had been the best brother he could be, and listened to her rant and rave about Duke's stupidity in wanting to end a life that hadn't even been fully created yet. Audrey had told her brother that she wanted the child to live more than anything else. Nathan had listened, told her that the comment was hardly surprising considering Duke had killed a man to protect her which wasn't something she wanted to hear, offered her a safe haven for the night, called her boyfriend, who had been combing the town for her, telling him where she was and not to bother coming over to try and talk to her, and then made up his guest room bed for her. In the morning, they went to work together, and by the middle of the afternoon, a lawyer stopped by with some paperwork for medical the proxy.

Nathan had told her that from his view point, the solution was simple. She and Duke weren't married. Therefore, Duke wouldn't automatically have the rights to make decisions for her if she was unable to make them herself. If she truly felt that if in the event that one or the other would have to be chosen, Nathan would abide by her wishes and see that the baby would live. Audrey had reluctantly signed the paperwork allowing Nathan to make the medical decisions if ever it were deemed necessary. Thinking about this made her shiver: until she woke up in the hospital, the idea that the paperwork might ever be put into to play was just an abstraction.

She'd never told Duke about the arrangement. Instead, that night she went home to find him gone, returned to his boat. For the longest three days of her life she sat alone in the apartment, leaving only to go to work. Then she'd calmed down enough to tell Duke she understood his point of view, but didn't agree with either his theory or the conclusion that it had led him to. However it was pointless to argue about it since there was every possibility that the baby was a boy, which, when the ultrasound happened a couple of days later, was what they were told the baby was. It had settled the argument.

Audrey wondered if it was about to start up again. She sighed, then collected herself. Worrying about it wouldn't be the most useful thing to do, not that she could do much of anything at all confined to bed rest. A finger crept of its own accord to the button controlling the bed height. She glared at the rampaging digit, then settled both hands on the mound of her belly. Boy or girl, it didn't matter. She was going to ensure this child had a chance to live. She would have liked to have tossed and turned, but she couldn't, so she just groaned in frustration.

He'd apologized, of course. Duke had insisted that he only had made the horrible suggestion that they get rid of the baby if it was a girl because he'd had too much to drink and too much time to worry, and he hadn't really meant it. Not if she wanted the baby. But part of her wondered if he'd only told her that because he thought she wanted him to, or because he was worried that she would have left him if he didn't; and she might have, if they'd been told it was a girl, at least until after the baby was born. He hadn't relaxed until they were assured that the baby would be a boy. At least he hadn't renewed his suggestion when Edington told them it was actually a girl after all...

The clock ticked over to 6pm, and Duke came into the room with a soft stuffed something carrying a single rose, seemingly originating out of the thing's navel. Behind her lover came her brother, about three steps later.

Some of the things she'd been torturing herself with must have still showed on her face because the look Duke gave her was full of concern. He seemed to think it was a physiological discomfort bothering her, though.

"Are you OK? Do you need me to get a nurse?" Duke asked, worry evident in his eyes.

Nathan took up a relaxed pose leaning just against the wall by the door. His casual pose was belied by the fact his eyes were no less worried than her boyfriend's. She couldn't help but wonder if Nathan was worried about her health too, or if he might have to drag Duke out of the room.

Audrey shook her head. "No, I just realized something."

Duke set the plush, floppy thing down. "What?" he asked, resting one of his large hands over hers.

She met his gaze levelly. "Exactly how long I'll have to be stuck in the apartment. I mean, really, there's only so much Maury and Jerry you can have in your life. I don't think I can handle too many episodes of 'he's not the father, she is, he is, or the sheep is.'"

The part time smuggler and restaurant owner looked faintly shocked, then grinned. "What do you mean? I never get bored of that. Unless you think this baby's really Nathan's, in which cause perhaps _we_ should be on the show and then they can televise you from home as they reveal the paternity results, but I got to say, that that would not be right. Not right at all. Although I think I'd be more offended if the sheep was the baby-daddy." Behind Duke she could see Nathan's face relax into an irritated grin as he shook his head.

Audrey freed her hand and gently slid it down Duke's cheek until she managed to pinch some of the hair of his "peach-fuzz" beard. She yanked down, hard. "Don't get any ideas, Mister."

She enjoyed watching the theatrical display that she knew was being put on solely for her benefit. Duke had emphatically not wanted a daughter. In a gasping voice he assured her "We can discuss this later. Please let go of my face now." Smiling in victory did as she was bid, and watched the excessive smoothing of the facial hair.

Nathan snorted. "Told you that dead mouse on your chin would one day land you in trouble."

"Certainly never thought I'd be assaulted with it, that's for sure. And by an officer of the law! Police brutality. You saw it, Nathan. You need to arrest this woman. Lock her up in chains." Duke's eyes sparkled with mischief.

Her brother shook his head. "Sorry, Duke. Keep me out of your fetishes. And I didn't see anything but a mother defending her child." Nathan detached himself from the wall and walked up to stand behind Duke, resting a hand on the other man's shoulder. She could feel Duke's start of surprise, then relaxation at the unexpected touch.

Things seemed to have evened out between the two men somewhat now that she was off limits to her former partner. Of course, when you could only feel a few people it probably made little difference; he'd once explained that he could now feel everything at least little like he'd told Duke just after he'd been shot, but most of it was pretty indistinct, like trying to fumble with fingers that had fallen asleep. Nathan had been really creepy with the rose that one time when he could feel it fully... So it didn't really surprise her that he'd become more touchy-feely with Duke, Jess, and herself since he realized he could feel them. Privately she wondered if he could feel his father too.

It would no doubt really piss off her partner to figure out that all the people that he could feel best were people he cared deeply for – loved to one extent or another. She wondered if Nathan had worked that one out yet. She knew he would be able to feel the baby when she was born. He already had a running joke with him about needing to carry extra tissues to mop up cop drool. Nathan was going to take to being the doting uncle like a fish to water.

Duke, well he had loved, and still did love Jean, but Jean only endangered his life, not hers. One of the things that exasperated her about the man was that he would wax on about tattooed men, and so and so 'wanted to kill me,' and then offer himself as a willing target sometimes. She couldn't decide if he was afraid of death or just had a latent suicide gene that activated whenever she and Nathan were involved.

Sternly she reminded herself that the future wasn't written in the stars. She could see the fear in his eyes when he looked at her, but she couldn't assume he'd do something stupid. Well, actually, she could, but only because she could also assume that Nathan and likely Dwight would keep him from doing something _too_ terribly stupid.

Her musings were cut short when Nathan reached over, and squeezed on of her hands. Then he bent down and gave her an awkward kiss on the forehead. "I've got to go into the station for a while. Be good. If you can't be good at least don't get caught."

Nathan left, leaving Duke and Audrey alone together. "Are you really ok, Audrey?" he asked, looking just a bit nervous and shy.

"Well, I'm on bed rest for the next several weeks, my partner is off on his own without me, and I'm worried my boyfriend's going to lose it royally because the little boy we've been expecting is a little girl and he's afraid she'll steal my soul," the traitorous digit flicked arrhythmically at a pull in the blanket on the bed.

The rogue looked at her, a bit sad. "I can't do anything for Nathan except ask Dwight to watch for him. The bed rest phase WILL pass, though I can imagine we'll both be crazy by the end of it. And it's too late to do anything about it if it does come to pass. But Audrey, you have to understand, more than anything in the world, I want you." He leaned down, resting his forehead against hers. "I love you."

The blonde reached up and wove her fingers through his hair, holding him still for just a moment. "I love you too. And I want you to love her. Promise me you'll try, no matter what happens?"

Pulling his head up he smiled wanly, but it did reach his eyes. "Hell, woman, I've already spent this much time in pregnancy hell awaiting a bouncing baby boy. It's just that 'his' bits are 'her' bits." He gently ran a hand over her belly. "I already love the kid. I just thought, you know, that the kid was going to be our son. Give me some time to adjust."

Audrey nodded, knowing that that was the best she was going to get from him. He still looked worried though, and he was fidgeting. Never a good sign for the former smuggler. "Out with it," she commanded.

Duke looked down, staring at his hands. "I got a call today. You know the tall ships?"

Audrey blinked at the non-sequitur; she'd honestly been expecting him to say something about her soul. "Yeah, I saw them when I was a kid in Boston. The old style vessels that they sail all along the coast to remind people what it used to mean to travel by sea."

He nodded. "They also go through supplies like mad. They need new canvas, masts, lines, sheets..."

"Wait, sheets? Why do they need sheets? I mean, I can see the crew needing sheets to sleep on, but not a lot of them..." she trailed off as she saw him grin. Boats and sailing always made him happy, which was more the reason for asking the question than getting information on linens used on tall ships.

"Sheets and lines are ropes. They just control different things. Sheets control the sails, so you can trim them to the wind. You know how they say three sheets to the wind? Means there's no tension on the sails and the boats not actually going anywhere on purpose."

"So it's a rope."

"It's a rope with a higher purpose."

"It's a rope that's closer to God?"

"Only if it's being used to control the moonraker."

"Ok, we went from the linens to James Bond Movies. Are you perhaps not feeling well?" She raised her hand up and mockingly pressed it on his forehead. "I don't feel a fever, but..."

"The moonraker's the highest canvas you raise on a tall ship. It's for when the ship has like" he started counting things on his fingers "8 sails on the main mast. It goes above the skysail."

"You mean there's more than just one?" she asked.

Duke gave her a look. "Yes Audrey, there's more than just one. On a square rigged ship, which has square canvas sails, three masted ship, you have a lot of sails. In order from the bottom up you can have the course sail, topsail, or the lower and the upper topsail, top galant or the lower and the upper topgalant, royal sail, skysail, and the moonraker. And that's not counting the other kinds of sails like the fore and aft sail, lateen sail, Bermuda sail, staysail, a jib or a spanker."

Audrey blinked. "That's a lot of material to cover."

"Yes, and that's why they need a lot of supplies to go along with the tall ships." He stared at his hands once more.

"Don't get me wrong here Duke, I'm as interested in all the different things the ships need as the next girl, but I don't see the relevancy."

"They want some cargo ships to bring up supplies as they go up the eastern seaboard into Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Normally it's brought in by truck but with the weather being odd, and all the storms lately, they want to have a few ships that can get to the vessels if they need emergency repairs. Cape Rouge is more than capable of carrying spare masts and extra canvas." He met her eyes.

Audrey knew that there was a lot about life on the water that drew Duke in. One of the things, she was shore of, was that it was the comradeship of those that made their living on the sea. She knew that he would, and had, gone out on the steady old freighter to go hunting for ships lost at sea and had either come home elated at their success at finding the souls on board or depressed if neither the ship nor survivors could be found. This would appeal to him, a lot. The fact that he was this upset would only mean one thing.

"When do you need to make the run?"

He shook his head. "I can't, Audrey. I can't leave you like this. I mean, you're on bed rest."

She took his hand. "Duke, I know you. You would love to be watching those ships in open water. And you would be in seventh heaven if they let you on board one to sail. It's not like they come up the coast all the time. One of us should be happy. Besides which, it must be pretty good money for you to move that wreck of yours."

"Audrey, I'm not leaving you like this." Duke gave her his best I mean it stare.

Audrey began plotting how to get Nathan to steal Duke's cell phone so she could tell the person that called that he would be more to go help with the tall ships. After all, the only thing worse than being bed ridden and have to watch endless episodes of Maury and Jerry was to stuck bed ridden watching them with a boyfriend that would find an excuse not to leave... ever... in case anything happened.


	7. Other Concerns

Later That Night

Visiting hours were a much more relaxed affair when someone wasn't in the ICU, but Nathan hadn't really minded the fact that he'd had to leave so soon. He would never admit that it pleased him that Duke had been so attentive while he was there, but he had left knowing that she was in good hands.

The thought of this as he walked into his house made him smirk - when had he come to think of being in Duke's company as being in good hands? A while ago if he thought about it...even before Duke had successfully pursued her, he'd had no qualms about letting him go off alone with her to help out, even if he'd been assuring her of what a worthless bastard Duke was at the same time.

Jess had gotten out of work a couple of hours before he finally gotten home, so he thought he'd find her in the kitchen sighing over the fact that they'd put off grocery shopping three times that week, or maybe watching TV, giving up on dinner until he finally allowed himself to be dragged to the store. He found her in neither place.

Eventually he looked in his bedroom, which he was beginning to think of as "their" bedroom, and saw her sitting on the bed. She was staring at her phone like it had just done something to sicken her. Irreverently he found himself thinking of the old Loony Tunes bit about the frog that would sing and dance for one character, but appeared dead to everyone else. "You okay?" he finally asked.

As she looked up at him, he realized that her eyes were wet, and he worried that the hospital might have called her with an update about Audrey if they hadn't been able to reach him while he was driving until she said, "There was an accident. In Québec."

He felt a slithering feeling in the pit of his stomach. Her parents had been surprisingly welcoming when they'd driven up there over New Years. "Your mom or dad?" Not both, he hoped. Could the day get much worse, he wondered, then worried: it was Haven, of course it could.

Jess shook her head. "No. It's my cousin Marie."

"The one who took your dog?" he found himself asking without thinking. Then he immediately wanted to smack himself. The dog was of no importance.

"Yes," she said quietly. "She was walking home from a party and a car running a red light hit her as she crossed the road."

Nathan tried to think of a polite way to ask if Marie was dead, and had just about settled on telling Jess that it would be okay with him if she reclaimed her dog when she spoke again.

"She broke so many bones, Nathan."

"I'm so sorry. She seemed nice when we saw her." Marie had teased him considerably less over New Year's than either of Jess's younger sisters, and had refrained from speaking about him in French too.

"She is," Jess agreed, nodding. "And she doesn't have anyone to look after her." Marie had mentioned the fact that her parents had died when she was in college, and she was an only child.

He thought about asking about Jess's sisters, but then he remembered that they'd both flown in to Québec too. The older of the pair lived in Manitoba, and the other even farther away. Jess was the closest despite being in another country, and her parents weren't up to looking after an accident victim he was sure. "Oh."

He wasn't entirely surprised when her next words were "So I'm going to let the hospital know I need to take some time off." Her green eyes locked on his. "Unless you need me here because of Audrey-"

Nathan snorted, he couldn't help it. When she gave him a startled look, he explained. "When you get back, the nurses you work with are going to complain to you about how difficult it was to keep her in bed. She tried to coax someone to let her get up to use the bathroom before I left and it's only been a few hours yet. I don't think she needs you as bad as your cousin does."

"Oh."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Nathan asked, hoping he didn't sound as unhappy about the idea as he felt.

Jess patted his arm. "No. I know you need to stay here. Audrey might seem like she's doing well, and she'd never ask you to stay, but I'm sure she wants you to. And Haven needs you to stay here too."

This made him frown a little, but he tried to smile when he noticed that she was looking at him. He thought Audrey was the only one who was still in high alert mode despite the relative calm in town. Had her agitation infected Jess too? "I'm hoping it doesn't need me too much. The nurses might need a hand keeping Audrey in line."

A smile flickered across her features despite her worry about her cousin. "And you didn't know if you'd be good at being a big brother."

"Since she's managed to take up some of Duke's bad habits, someone has to be the responsible one around here."

"Like that's new," Jess muttered. Then she threw her arms around him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Nathan kissed her. "I know. I'll miss you, but I'll cope."

"What did I do to deserve such an understanding fiancé?" Jess asked, touching his cheek.

"Something awful, I'm sure," Nathan said dryly.

* * *

The Next Evening

Nathan looked over the harbor, watching the sunset reflected in the water. The colors of the sun lit the sky as it sunk into the trees behind him, painting the water and the homes around him in the colors of autumn. A pleasant sight, one that generally brought him peace. He sat on his bench staring at waves painted red. He tried to not equate the scene and the smell to blood. Of course, thoughts of blood led him to thoughts of Audrey, still trying to hold on to her and Duke's baby, giving it the best of chances.

"Penny for your thoughts?" The soft French Canadian accent made the phrase seem exotic.

Nathan turned his head, to see Jess limned in the sun's fading light. He grinned, then ducked his head down. "They aren't worth that much, Jess."

She walked up to the back of the bench, draped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Releasing him she walked around the edge of the bench and sat beside him, her leg resting against him. "They are worth more than anything to me, Nathan. So, want to share them?"

Nathan sighed. "I'm just worried about Audrey. She's upset about the baby."

"I can't blame her. It must have been quite scary. But I'm sure Duke will help her through it." Jess ran a hand through her hair.

"Duke may make it worse." Nathan grimaced. "You've seen him. Steadfast sea captain, until she gets a splinter."

Jess ducked her head, trying to hide the laughter. "It is kind of hard to believe that he's this big, bad pirate."

He shook his head. "No, trust me, he's not a nice guy. Just because Audrey seems to be his Achilles heel, don't think that this behavior is normal for him."

"I sincerely doubt that that behavior is normal for anyone, never mind Duke."

Jess turned to Nathan, running a hand along his cheek. He leaned into it, relishing the warmth of the touch, the slight friction of her skin against his. She drew her hand down to his neck, and drew him into a deep, lingering kiss. It was beyond pleasant, and briefly he wondered how he could have spent so long chasing Audrey when Jess was already here. Somehow her running away didn't seem the unforgivable sin it had seemed like originally.

When the kiss ended, he rested his forehead against hers, breathing deeply to take in her unique scent, feeling it relax him. He could feel her breath against his throat as she whispered, "Besides, Audrey's told me that you go to pieces when there are babies present. And as doting uncle, I expect to be able to see this first hand when I get back."

"I can go with you... I can take a leave," he offered again, pulling back to meet her eyes.

Jess shook her head. "No, you should stay here. Someone's got to keep an eye on this town and I can't think of anyone better for it than you. You are the only one sensible enough to ride herd on the Troubles."

"Sensible?" Nathan asked, amused.

The dark haired woman nodded. "Well, I mean, there is Dwight, but I mean, he does occasionally strike me as having all his oars in the water."

"I think you mean he doesn't have all his oars in the water." Nathan smiled, reaching up a hand to take hers, marveling at the sensation.

"No, you need to be crazy to live in Haven, to deal with all-" she made an expansive gesture with her free hand, "-this," she concluded.

Nathan pulled back, exclaiming "Hey!"

"I live here now. I include myself in that statement." She reached over and kissed him gently on the nose.

"I'm serious. I will go with you if you want me to. I'm sure that someone can hold down the fort." Nathan thoughts turned to Stan, who would be unhappy about stepping up but competent.

Jess looked at him appraising for a few moments, letting him know she was seriously considering his offer before replying. "I know you are serious, Nathan, but I will be fine. It will only be a few weeks, just until Marie is back on her feet. She needs time to learn how to do everything all over again. The worst of it is the broken leg and the broken collar bone. She'll need help until she can manage one or the other. My parents, they can't afford to miss all the time out of work. At least here I have enough vacation time built up that I can stay with her."

"I know," Nathan said, sighing. "It's just that..."

"I'll miss you too, Nathan." Jess ran her thumb against the back of his hand. "But we've discussed this, you are needed here. I'll call you. It'll be OK. And I'm looking forward to seeing my dog."

"I always knew you loved that dog more than me," the detective groused.

"Well, she doesn't drool as much when she sleeps, and doesn't leave so much hair in the bathroom, so yes," she replied, good humor sparkling in her eyes.

"If you need me, let me know," Nathan told her. "It's only a couple hour flight. I can probably even get there faster if I need to. When does your flight leave?"

"Later tonight. It was the only one I could get out on. Seems like Québec is a popular destination this year. You need to stop worrying. Everything will be fine. You need to keep your head on straight for Audrey. If she thinks you are upset too, she'll think there's a reason to get more upset herself, which will get Duke upset, and Duke will make you more upset... probably he'll upset you right over the railings of Cape Rouge while out at sea. So don't get killed by your niece's father before our wedding," Jess admonished him. "By the way, have you asked him about it yet?"

Nathan slumped back into the bench, sighing. "It hasn't come up yet. I haven't been able to get him alone and not have him freaking out about Audrey. And it seems sort of insensitive, I mean I can't really walk up to him and say 'Hi Duke! Listen, I know you are worried to death about Audrey and your kid, but hey, can you set it aside for a few minutes and agree to be my best man?'"

Jess grinned. "You could ask Dwight instead."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "That seems... ill-advised. If I ask Duke, I'll get tasteless women at my bachelor party. If I ask Dwight, I might get tasteless MREs and severely damaged. I'll take my chances with Duke, thanks. Besides which I figure I have time. We haven't even picked a date yet."

"Hmm. We'll figure it out. Just promise me we won't be engaged for ten years before we finally get through the ceremony." Jess rested her head on his shoulder, watching as the water grew darker as the light faded from the sky.

"Well, if we waited that long, then we'd have a built-in flower girl."

He could feel the muscles of her face move as she smiled. "Yes, but then your father might have a stroke."

Nathan rested his cheek against her head. "True. I suppose we'll have to get married sooner than later. We could always elope."

Jess shook her head. "No, I promised Audrey she could be the maid, er, matron? Unwed mother? Of honor? Perhaps you could convince Duke that it would be wise to marry her?"

Nathan's lips thinned out. "We've discussed it." His tone made it clear to her it was a closed subject. Discussed perhaps hadn't been the best word. More like yelled at loud volume. How half the town had failed to hear the argument remained a mystery, except that when Duke was very angry, he whispered rather than shouted.

The woman sighed. "I see." She got up and stood before the detective. "We still have a few hours left before I have to go to the airport. Would you like to use that time to remind me why I should come back to you rather than staying with my dog?"

"I think I might be able to give you a reason or two before you leave." His voice dropped an octave, and Jess smiled, the one that promised a memorable time. Together they got into Nathan's old Bronco and drove out to her home.

* * *

Wednesday

For most of the morning, Audrey had found herself vacillating between the anticipation of getting to go home, and a sinking feeling that she wouldn't be released. And as the doctor frowned at the monitor, the bad feeling began to win out.

Duke must have interpreted the doctor's expression the same way she did because he flashed her a sad little smile when the doctor was busy turning the equipment off.

"Well?" Audrey asked, hoping to cut off any hemming and hawing, and just get the extension of her hospital sentence over with.

"We agreed that there would be no arguing about my treatment plan, correct?" Doctor Edington asked.

"Um..." Audrey mumbled, wondering if she was about to be lectured about giving nurses a hard time. She didn't mean to, exactly, but it had never been her inclination to unquestioningly follow orders. And some people found even reasonable questions unacceptable. It did make her wish Jess was around to explain her to the nurses, but Nathan said Jess's cousin was in really bad shape, so she wouldn't be coming home soon.

She only realized that Edington's question had led Duke's thoughts down an entirely different path when he gave her a look of undisguised alarm and asked, "Are you going to deliver the baby today? We don't even have a name picked out yet!"

"Wha?" Audrey squeaked. From where he sat the monitor had been visible but she didn't know if he could have understood the image well enough to see if the problem had worsened to that degree.

"No, no!" Edington practically shouted. Her cheeks turned a dull red when they both shut up and stared at her. She covered her face with her hand and muttered "the practice is going to make me take a workshop on improving bedside manner" before regaining her composure. When she lowered her hand she said, "I just didn't want a lot of complaining that I'm not releasing her yet," she explained to Duke.

"Oh," was all he said in response.

Audrey herself said nothing at first, too busy trying to sort out her emotions. Disappointment that she couldn't go home. Fear and worry about why not. Severe annoyance that the doctor's clumsy attempt to avoid conflict had scared the hell out of them... and relief that the baby didn't have to come yet.

"Audrey?"

When she looked up Edington was staring at her. "How much longer?"

"I think we'll reassess on Sunday."

It took a great deal of self-control not to shriek "Sunday?!" like a spoiled teenager being informed how long she was grounded.

"Why?" Duke demanded to know.

During doctor's appointments earlier in her pregnancy she'd been occasionally bothered by how chatty he was with the OB staff. He spent a lot of time looking things up to ask during appointments, and while she knew she should be pleased that he cared so much about her well-being and their baby's, especially after he'd made the suggestion that had horrified her, at times it had been difficult together own questions heard and responded to. But right then, she wasn't annoyed at his question. it was a damn good one.

"The tear isn't healing as fast as we'd hoped. I don't want Audrey out of bed at all yet, not even long enough to just be driven home."

Duke sighed, but a quick glance at his face suggested that he was more disappointed for her than worried.

She was worried. "What do you think my chances are?" When Duke seemed to grow alarmed, she quickly clarified, "of going all the way to term, I mean."

When Duke slumped back in his chair she knew for sure he'd misinterpreted her initial question. She reached for his hand as an apology. When he let her take it, she felt a little less guilty about scaring him.

"Honestly, I don't know," Edington told them, hands splayed. "You could do everything wrong once you get home and deliver at 40 weeks. Or you could do everything right and still end up having this baby next week."

Audrey sighed and sank back into her pillows. She had been anticipating a definitive answer, one way or the other. Even an honest 'no' would have been less frustrating to hear than I don't know. There had been far too much uncertainty in her life for her to welcome more. Especially when it came to such a serious topic.

"There is one silver lining," Doctor Edington told her, though it sounded like her optimistic tone was less than genuine.

"What's that?" Audrey asked grumpily.

"Even if you don't make it to 40 weeks, she's not going to be one of those tiny preemies that worry everyone to death with very low birth weights."

"What do you mean?" Duke wanted to know.

"If she was born today - and I really, really don't think she will be - she'd already be more than five pounds. At 40 weeks I bet you'd have an eight-pounder on your hands."

For a moment Duke looked amused and he started to say, "Maybe the baby being a little earl... No..." before trailing off. Apparently he realized his joke wasn't going to go over well. "My brothers and I were all big babies," he offered instead. Then he said "sorry?" practically under his breath, but Audrey heard him.

"The Chief said I wasn't little, either, so I can't blame your genes entirely," Audrey told him. She hadn't asked, but Nathan's father had spontaneously told her that not long after she began to show. At least he didn't have any long labor stories to share, having not been involved with Nathan's mother until he was already walking.

Audrey only realized that might sound odd to someone who didn't know them well when Edington said, "The chief? Is that your father?" which was a reasonable guess since Edington had learned that both Audrey and her brother were cops.

Audrey gave Duke a helpless look and he came up with, "Um... her stepfather. Well, kind of."

The doctor clearly realized she'd opened a can of worms with her question. "Well, anyway... I just want you to focus on the next ten days."

"Why the next ten days?" Audrey demanded to know.

"Thirty-seven weeks is considered full term, though most pregnancies go to forty. Her lungs will be fully developed by then."

"And then there will be nothing left to worry about," Duke declared, sounding pleased.

"As long as the abruption doesn't get worse," Edington agreed.

"That can still happen?" He suddenly looked worried.

"Duke!" Audrey exclaimed, exasperated. "Why do you think I'm on bed rest?"

"Um... oh."

"But Audrey is going to stay in bed like a model patient so we don't have to worry about that, right?" Edington said cheerfully.

"Right," Audrey said through gritted teeth. The only way that patronizing question would have annoyed her more would have been if it had been phrased as 'good girl' instead of patient.

"So," Edington said, "Sunday."

"Sunday," Audrey agreed grudgingly.

Edington excused herself a minute later, leaving Duke looking a bit awkward: he hadn't failed to realize how much Edington had ticked her off at the end. "It could be worse," he eventually offered.

"It could?"

"Doctor Stark could be an OB."

"Argh!" Audrey cried at the reminder of her brother's jerk of a doctor. "That _would_ be worse."

"I wonder how he is lately," Duke mused. "Maybe he's gotten the stick removed."

"I think Jess would have mentioned that." Jess and Doctor Stark openly loathed each other, so if there was any good gossip on the man, Audrey was sure she'd hear it.

Yeah, maybe..." Duke looked thoughtful. "I got bored that night and looked at Nathan's chart-"

"Naturally," Audrey said with a smirk, though she didn't blame him: Duke had been barred from Nathan's room too but the charts were helpfully left in pockets by the patient's doors. It didn't take too much imagination to picture him having sneaked a peek between times trying to sweet talk the nurses into letting him see her or Nathan.

"Stark's first name is Leslie. I think we should make a pact to keep that off our list of possible names," Duke finished.

"Oh God," she groaned and nearly laughed when he looked at her with wide eyes. "I can't believe we have to try to find a name all over again!"

"Jess said the next one might be a boy," Duke informed her. "He can be our Eric."

"The next one?" she asked archly. "The one you're going to carry?"

"Only if we really do get that sort of trouble here in town," Duke told her primly.

This time she really did dissolve into giggles.


	8. A Fatal Blow

That Night

As Nathan ate fried rice directly from the takeout box, he spilled some on his bare chest and began to regret the decision not to wear anything but his rattiest pair of sweatpants, the ones he hid last year after Jess suggested replacing them. They're practically the only piece of clothing he still has from his college days, so he's not about to part with them. Jess obviously didn't understand considering she'd told him that Durham, New Hampshire was only a day trip away, and he could just pick out new stuff with the University of New Hampshire logo on it. The logo changed, he tried to point out before giving up. Sighing, he used a complimentary paper napkin to clean himself up. "Fine dining," he muttered to himself.

The phone rang, giving him something other than his pathetic attempt to feed himself to think about. He eagerly snatched it up once he recognized the number. "Hi sweetie," he said, wincing when his movements jarred the takeout box and sent more rice raining to the floor. "How are you? How's Marie?"

"I'm fine. And Marie is doing as well as could be hoped. They will be releasing her from the hospital in the morning. I should be ready for her by then. She's lucky that her house is a ranch."

Luckier than he had been, she meant. Marie's bedroom wouldn't need to be recreated in a new location like his had been. It was quite fortunate that Marie wouldn't need to worry about stairs. "Good to hear."

"How's Audrey?"

"About the same," he said, shrugging to himself. "Frustrated that she's cooped up, but physically no worse."

"Is she still in the hospital?"

"Yeah. Until Sunday at the earliest."

"And how's Nathan?" Jess asked gently.

"Bored," he admitted. "It's too quiet everywhere lately."

"I'm sorry."

This immediately left him feeling guilty for complaining about something as trivial as loneliness. "I'm okay. Just a bit grumpy, sorry."

"It's okay." Her sounding understanding didn't make him feel better. "Oh! They caught the driver."

"On horseback? Impressive," he teased.

"I do not believe Mounties caught him, Nathan."

"Really? I was led to believe that they're highly capable men and... Jess, _are_ there female Mounties?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "If there aren't would Audrey be disappointed?"

"Perhaps in a general 'society continues to fail women' way, but I doubt she has any plans to pick up stakes and relocate to Canada so she can join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."

"No. She doesn't have much riding experience. And it would be a shame if your niece was raised in another country."

Nathan had been amused, but this idea bothered him. He knew for a fact that she'd shot down Duke's suggestion about buying a house. If Audrey didn't want to put down roots in Haven, was there somewhere else she had in mind? He was afraid to ask her. "I'd rather not think about that."

Jess was quiet a moment, then asked, "Has Duke put a hit out on the cow yet?"

"What?" he sputtered.

"I figured that he would," Jess went on. "For causing so much trouble."

"You thought he'd want the cow killed?" Nathan's lips twitched as he spoke, badly wanting to smile.

"The Gull's freezers are impressive and Fall Fest is only a few weeks away," Jess suggested. "It seemed like the sort of final solution Duke would be eager for."

"But Jess, I don't actually think he blames the cow. She just panicked when that boy forced her into a terrifying situation."

"Then perhaps he's more grounded than your Fox Mulder," Jess suggested, clearly referencing the X- Files episode when the beleagued agent insisted that a cow that crashed into his hotel room had somehow been earmarked for him. She'd especially liked that episode.

"He's America's Fox Mulder, Jess," Nathan responded in mock seriousness. "And yes, considering Duke hasn't made fighting aliens who may or may not exist his life's work, I daresay he's slightly more stable than Mulder."

"That's dangerously close to saying something nice about Duke," she pointed out.

"Just calling it like I see it."

"Hmm. I wonder, though, if Fall Fest will happen this year," Jess said, disorienting him with her conversational shift. "The first day of autumn is very close to Audrey's due date."

"I know. And if he does go through with the event, I promise not to drink too much and make you slap me again this year."

"Oh?" Jess asked archly. "Are we still pretending your bad behavior that night was inspired by excessive alcohol consumption?"

"Can we?" he begged.

"As long as it continues to be a one-off event, yes."

"Alcohol is not my friend," he said piously. "I know that now."

"Good. You should be nice to your liver, Nathan, considering its efforts to remain part of you."

"I know," Nathan said with a shudder. It was hard to forget that he'd come within a hair's breadth of needing a transplant. Tests showed that his liver had more or less fully recovered, however.

"Glad to hear it..."

Their conversation devolved into sappiness and trying to make each other laugh with nonsensical private jokes, leaving Nathan less lonely than he'd been all day.

* * *

Friday

The day had been odd for Nathan, to say the least. There had been strange things seen all over town, reports of UFOs and the like. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong, par for the course with this week from hell. It had started with Audrey being run over by livestock and then just gone downhill from there; something seemed out to get him for having complained that it was too quiet a couple of days earlier because it certainly wasn't quiet any more. If things got any worse, it would likely end with having to arrest Duke on murder charges or something similar.

Nathan sighed heavily. This day was just not what he had wanted to deal with. Jess being gone hadn't helped: it was much easier to be sexually frustrated when you couldn't actually feel the sex. Although, when he was honest with himself, he just wanted to lose himself in the sensation, stop thinking, stop worrying, just stop. Still, he couldn't afford that luxury, not if he wanted to keep the town from coming apart at the seams. It was fortunate that at least now, there were no groups actively advocating for the death of the troubled. Duke was still nervous about the tattooed man that was planning on killing him, but he seemed to relax, or at least have shifted his concerns onto Audrey and their baby.

He still couldn't believe that Audrey had wanted him to steal her boyfriend's phone for a plan he'd firmly prevented her from explaining to him, sure that it wouldn't be a good one. It seemed that Audrey was going as crazy as her sea captain...Nathan desperately needed it to be quiet the rest of the week, so of course the day had started out with strange lights in the sky and crop circles. Because Haven needed UFOs like it needed more trouble or Troubled.

Nathan did have to admit, however, it was a good distraction from the problems at hand. Dwight had gone with him to investigate the strange phenomena and decide how to best work with the Teagues to make the latest instance of the Haven trouble more palatable to the tourists looking only to see a quaint New England town. The detective was eternally grateful that so many of the tourists that provided the Havanites so much of their income through the year were completely oblivious to what was really happening around them. They didn't want to see anything more what they expected, and it made both his and Dwight's lives easier. The people that knew the truth didn't announce it, either. He was never more grateful for the "townie" versus "tourist" attitude.

Sometimes he wished that he was back in his father's day, before the internet. Now a days everyone considered themselves a reporter, and anything unusual had a blog. That was what had brought both him and Dwight to the old inn that overlooked the harbor – a blog about aliens abducting a man repeatedly. Briefly he'd wished for the equally fictional Fox Mulder that Jess had so recently teased him about to come resolve what had happened.

It was pleasant enough location where clouds scudded across the sky, and reflected in the quiet bay. The Altair Bay Inn didn't look like it should have been the scene of what appeared to be a murder suicide. Roslyn and Wesley Toomey had run the Inn ever since Roslyn's father had died a little over 25 years before. She had kept up the inn as a bed and breakfast, and it had been successful for the past several years. This season, however, she had closed the place down early in order to work on renovating some of the rooms that had gotten dated. Vince and Dave had even run a piece on the modernization of the old inn, and how the innkeeper and her son had planned to retain the country charm but update the amenities to appeal more to those that wanted to have "working" vacations. It had spurred a 2 month long letter to the editor argument between Helen Storms and George Fairbanks about corporate slavery and the need to return to simpler times versus the freedom to work from remote locations and the ability to spend more time with ones family while still being a productive member of society. Most of the townies backed George, who was known just to close his small grocery store because it was a nice day, and most of the tourists backed Helen, who was a part time resident, running her internet consulting company from Hannah Day's Bed and Breakfast during the summer months.

Dwight had worked with Nathan all day to try to find the source of the UFOs that had infected Haven all day. They had found out several important things over the last few hours. Manholes could fly when enough magnetic force was applied, but would return to Earth when gravity was the dominant force. Unfortunately, Force is equal to mass times acceleration. While gravity was considered a weak force in the great scheme of things, something with a lot of mass makes one hell of a dent when it falls at 32 feet per second squared. There were going to be a lot of angry insurance agents, including Dwight's.

The most disquieting thing about the day had been when Nathan's Bronco had rolled to a stop on a deserted road. The old truck was on its last legs, and the detective knew it - there was more jury rigging in the electrical system than real rigging on Duke's ship. He could sympathize somewhat with the Teagues beloved but nearly dead VW bus. Pretty soon he'd be on the radio calling for help and a tow from them if he didn't replace the truck, he noted sourly. Dwight hadn't said anything, just made a face as he got out, motioning to Nathan to pop the hood. Nathan did as requested and then exited the vehicle himself, walking to where Dwight stood.

"Nathan, you need a big bullet," Dwight said as he twitched a few wires in a skeletal harness that was more rust than metal.

Nathan leaned down, staring at the guts of the old truck. It was, he had to admit, not in the best of conditions. "You think you can arc to the starter with a bullet casing?" Although he was unsure exactly how that could be done, the detective remembered some apocryphal story from the internet about an idiot that used a live bullet to hotwire a car and ended up shooting himself. Dwight's Trouble might not be as strong as it once was, and the bullet might only arc towards him rather than impacting him, but Nathan didn't really want more holes in the truck, or in Dwight for that matter.

The blond man shook his head. "No, to put it out of its misery. I mean, how do you get this thing past inspection?" Disgusted, the ex-Ranger slammed the hood down.

"Who really wants to annoy the local chief of police?" the other man asked, with a small, sly grin.

Dwight looked up, crossed his arms, and thought about it for a few moments. "Duke."

Chuckling Nathan nodded. "Good thing he isn't my mechanic then."

A dark shadow passed over them, one that wasn't caused by the clouds. "Ah, you know if the Goodyear blimp is reporting on the Portland versus Bangor game?"

Nathan blinked. "I can't imagine why they fly the blimp out for that." He looked up. "Yeah, I don't know about you, but I do not want to be probed anywhere by anyone."

The look on Dwight's face showed he wasn't up for some good old fashioned alien fun, either. Dwight was pulling a large knife that had been sheathed near the small of his back and Nathan had been about to pull his gun when his feet had been ripped out from underneath him. He could hear the sound of sticks and twigs breaking as he was dragged by his feet through the bracken. He could also hear Dwight coming through the woods after him.

The pull on him suddenly ceased as he rolled unceremoniously into the field, moved by his own momentum. Dwight entered seconds later. Both had stood shocked at the symbols that decorated the grass. They had appeared burned into the lawn, rather than the traditional bent over wheat-stalks. The symbols were also smaller than Nathan would have expected, given the size of the ones that were regularly seen in England. The two men explored the field, looking for any evidence of what had happened but turning up nothing.

After several minutes of scouring the field, the men walked back through the woods to Nathan's truck. As he suspected, Nathan was able to start the car easily on the first try. It fit with the whole alien encounter motif that was going on. Sighing, he waited for Dwight to get into the truck and upon hearing the door slam he put the old girl in gear and continued driving up to the inn.

Wesley Toomey had had a blog that detailed his families encounters with aliens. He wrote that it was terrifying him to know that the aliens were coming for him. It seemed likely that with the UFOs that were being seen around town, that somehow Wesley Toomey was involved and likely had inadvertently caused the phenomena. It had taken about 30 seconds talking to Wesley when he answered the door to convince the detective the man was completely off his rocker.

Nathan mused that it was hard to believe that a life time townie didn't know about the troubles, or consider that he might have been impacted by them, but that was exactly the read he got on Wesley. The man fervently believed in the UFOs but not the troubles that had likely caused the aliens to come into being. Rationality hadn't worked on the man, nor had Dwight's earnest and honest protestations that the US government wasn't hiding a UFO conspiracy.

It hadn't helped when Dwight said he was an ex-Ranger with access to top-secret files. Nathan made a mental note to NEVER allow Dwight to try to comfort anyone ever again. Except maybe Duke. And even that really depended on how pissed he was at Duke the time. Wesley had heard Dwight's well intentioned words and lit out the door screaming.

Haven had banned high speed chases down the town streets after the Chief, well, former Chief, had caused Old Maddy Jacob's llamas to spook and jump the fence. The Chief had protested it was the siren, but we all thought that it was because of Jed Connors truck smashed through the fence after the PIT maneuver that had been used to stop the car. Consequently, Nathan had to follow Wesley at something approaching a normal speed, which meant not bothering to follow him at all. Wesley wasn't going to bother obey the speed limits. Hell, with luck he'd drag the aliens with him to Canada.

Dwight shrugged, understanding why Nathan didn't pursue the crazy man. Together they entered the Inn, and within moments found a long streaked bloodstain disappearing down the hallway. The blood stain ended abruptly at a door and there was no body at the end of it. Wesley would likely claim that the aliens abducted his mother, but to Nathan's mind, aliens rarely seemed to kill their abductees. This seemed more like murder.

A quick search of the Inn showed nothing unusual, just an old home that had been well cared for over its life. The two men returned to the truck, and began planning the hunt for Toomey. It had taken most of the day to follow the maddened man's course through the town. In his trailer they found thousands of clippings about alien abductions. The UFO activity became worse throughout the day, with things falling from the sky and more magnetic attacks. Things were getting progressively worse, and Audrey kept calling asking to know what was going on. The hospital had gone on lockdown and the woman was savvy enough to have figured it out. She wasn't buying that he had it well in hand. Only the constant reminder that she'd put the baby at risk if she left the hospital kept her there.

Finally, after frustrating hours of feeling like he was chasing his own tail, he and Dwight ended up back at the Inn. It was the scent that the irritated man noticed first. It was an awful, cloying scent. Dwight's good-natured grin failed him and his face fell into the serious lines showed the ex-soldier's somber side. Nathan looked to Dwight and the blond man nodded.

Wesley was crying out back where the old outdoor fireplace continued to burn, uncaring of the fuel it consumed. The twisted wreck of plastic and metal showed a prosthetic leg the woman was known to have used. He looked up when the men advanced. "I couldn't save her," he whispered. "They took her and killed her, and I couldn't save her. They smashed my jamming equipment, so I can't even stop them anymore."

Nathan knelt in front of the broken man. "What happened?"

"I told you. The aliens, they took her and killed her. It wasn't bad enough that they took my grandfather, they had to take my mother too." He broke down sobbing again, head held in his hands and rocking.

Dwight stayed standing, watching out for Nathan in case the man attacked, but hanging back, perhaps figuring that Nathan would be the best able to handle calming the troubled man. Nathan himself just wanted to call Audrey. She had a knack for dealing with this, not him. "Look, why don't we head down to the station and talk about this."

Wesley looked up, stark desolation present in his eyes. "Why? Everything I love, that I cared about was taken. They are going to destroy this town and all the people in it. It's what they wanted to do when they took my grandfather, and what they want to do now. I can't stop them from coming. I'm not sure I want to."

"Maybe there's something else we can do," Nathan offered quietly.

A quiet snort from Wesley was followed with "Can you raise the dead?"

Nathan shook his head. "No, but …"

"Go away." Wesley refused to meet either man's eyes, turning to look again at the flames consuming what was presumably Roslyn Toomey.

"Can't do that. You need to come with us." A hit of steel entered the detective's tone.

Wesley turned around, facing Nathan, staring at his right collarbone. "No." The tableau held for a moment, until the ground started to shake. Bright lights shone in the sky, making it as bright as noon, and a weird hum started that shook them all to the bones. Wesley bolted, running for the Inn. Nathan and Dwight followed, hot on his heels. The two men entered the kitchen just in time to see Wesley draw a knife from a drawer.

"No!" Nathan's cry fell on deaf ears as the young man buried the knife to the hilt in his breast. Wesley's fingers slackened their hold on the knife, but he held his grip long enough to pull the knife partially out of his body. It took a moment for the blood to flow from the small hole, but when it did it quickly stained the T-shirt, turning it red.

Dwight rushed forward and caught Wesley before his knees gave way, gently cradling the man as he fell to the floor. "You can't take anything more for me..." the Troubled man whispered. He trailed off as the light died from his eyes. Dwight ran a gentle hand over the younger man's eyes, closing them.

Nathan sighed, then used his cell phone to call into the station letting them know the fate of Roslyn and Wesley Toomey. Nathan wished whole heartedly that Audrey had been there. Surely if she had been, something better would have come of this mess and neither Roslyn or her son would have died.

* * *

Working with the dead was better for Dr. Lucassi than being a shrink had been, Nathan mused. He seemed calmer, more relaxed, but he was missing the quiet spark of humor that had marked Eleanor Carr. Still, it was better to have an ME that was aware of the troubles than one that wasn't. It certainly made life easier when it came to explaining things away.

It was less than a day after the grisly murder of Roslyn Toomey had been found when Dr. Lucassi called with information on her cause of death. Nathan had expected to hear that she had died due to her organs being removed, or some other alien inspired reason.

Audrey had been on the phone with him constantly after he had told her what had happened. Well, some of it. He didn't tell her about the dead woman, but everything else, and everything else was enough to worry her as it was. Every couple of hours she called, wanting to make sure he was OK. Nathan bitterly wondered if she realized that she was as guilty as hovering and mother henning as she accused Duke of being. A bored Audrey was a dangerous thing.

When the ME called it came as something of a relief to have his cell phone tied up with the acerbic doctor rather than his beloved sister and partner. "Wournos here," he answered.

"I have some information for you on Mrs. Toomey," the Doctor opened with.

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "That was fast."

"Yes, well we were able to examine the skeletal structure and arrive at what was likely her cause of death. She had a small hole at the base of her skull. Based on what we can tell, it looks like she may have been shot, but the lack of a bullet in either her cranial cavity or the ash makes us believe that the murder weapon may have been a blunt object. May have even have been a bolt gun," the Doctor supplied.

"A bolt gun?" Nathan asked. "Like what they use for cattle?"

"Yes. Makes a small wound with little damage, consistent with the marks on Mrs. Toomey's skull. However this is just the initial analysis. It is possible that it was done after her death, but it seems unlikely."

"Thank you Dr. Lucassi. If you find anything else, please let me know." Nathan ended the call. Maybe Roslyn and Wesley weren't the murder-suicide that he first believed. Still, he could head back to the house and hope that he would find a bolt gun. Several miles from the nearest cattle farm.

Somehow, though, when he got behind the wheel, he didn't find himself heading back to the crime scene.

* * *

_A/N: Only your commentary will keep one of your authors from thinking about how to devise a plausible plot for a Haven/X-Files/Primeval/Hart of Dixie quadruple crossover instead of writing this fic =) Wouldn't it be awesome, though?_


	9. Where He Is

Later

Duke was clock watching, counting the minutes until the assistant manager would arrive so he could go see Audrey when Nathan walked in and collapsed on a stool in front of him. Nathan looked so upset that he couldn't stop himself from asking, "You okay, Nate?"

At first Nathan just shook his head, so he began to brainstorm a polite way to ask if Jess had called with a new flavor of bad news - maybe her cousin had died or would need to be moved to Haven putting a damper on their sleepovers like that depressing **Ethan Frome** book they'd been made to read senior year, Duke speculated - but eventually Nathan spoke. "Found a burned body up at Altair Bay Inn this morning."

He shuddered; that was enough to screw anyone up, even a seasoned cop. "Burned alive?" he asked, imagining something gone horribly wrong with a much worse trouble than either of their own.

"Nope. Dr. Lucassi let me know a little while ago that he found a hole in the poor woman's skull. He said that's what killed her, fortunately."

"Fortunately?" Duke asked in disbelief. It still threw him every time he thought of the former shrink deciding that he'd rather be a medical examiner. Who'd rather work with corpses? And now Nathan thought one of those corpses was fortunate to have died horribly.

Nathan shrugged before toying with a menu on the counter. "It's a big enough hole that it had to kill her instantly. Beats the hell out of being burned alive."

This had Duke thinking back to dark chapters in the town's history, and how a few less than liked residents had been burned at the stake an eon ago. "I guess." The rest of what he was going to say was forgotten when his phone rang. "Audrey," he told Nathan before answering.

"Hey, sweetheart, I'll be over soon, just waiting for-" He stopped talking abruptly when she interrupted. After a moment he eyed Nathan and said, "He's here. Do you want to talk to him?... okay, I'll fill him in on the way there. Bye."

"What's wrong?" Nathan demanded to know, effortlessly transitioning from morose cop to concerned sibling.

Duke looked at the door and was grateful to see his assistant manager coming in. "We need to get to the hospital."

"Is the baby coming?" Nathan asked, sliding off his stool.

"What?" Duke asked, blinking. "This isn't a medical problem, Nate."

"Then what?" He followed Duke outside.

"Police related," Duke explained as they made their way across the parking lot.

Duke got into his Land Rover and waited for Nathan to too. as soon as he put on his seatbelt, Nathan looked at him. "Explain."

"You know Lucy Ripley?"

"Audrey's mother."

"No, the real one," Duke said impatiently. "The one you helped her locate."

"What about her?" Nathan asked just as impatiently. He must have been distracted because he didn't yell at him for barreling down the road.

"She's in Audrey's room. Once she figured out that Audrey isn't getting out of that bed-" _She damn well better not_, Duke thought irritably, not pleased that Ripley would add to her temptation to. "-she demanded to speak to you."

"About what?"

Duke shrugged and passed a Volvo going 15 under the speed limit. "I guess we'll find out when we get there."

Nathan loosened an aggrieved sigh, but for once Duke was pretty sure it wasn't directed at him. "It's not Audrey's fault," Duke said quietly.

"What isn't?"

He removed a hand from the steering wheel only long enough to wave it - any longer than that was courting Nathan's favorite 'hands at ten and two' lecture. "Lucy's distraught, so she couldn't get a lot of sense out of her."

"Oh." Duke could tell that Nathan was also imagining Lucy having a meltdown in Audrey's room while she watched helplessly. "Hopefully she'll be calmer when we get up there."

Duke pulled into the parking garage. "Hopefully the nurses didn't sedate her insensible," Duke said grimly. When he noticed Nathan's stare, he frowned. "What? You have to watch yourself around those people."

"I don't think they drugged you, Duke." Dwight had told Nathan about the incident one spring evening in The Gull, ignoring Duke's loud death threats from the bar at the time.

As for the morning he was thinking of, Duke remembered distinctly remembering hitting a lobster after the vampire nurse after his soul hooked up an IV. "I'm just saying anything could have been in that IV bag."

"Uh huh."

He almost asked where the image of arthropodicide had come from if he hadn't been drugged, but he didn't bother. Nathan would have just come back with a scathing remark about his general mental health.

* * *

Audrey was overwhelmed by a sense of relief when Duke and Nathan entered her hospital room. It was probably the most relieved she's been to see them in a situation that didn't involve gunfire, figuring out one of them wasn't _really_ dead, or being freed from the confines of a locked footlocker.

All she knew was one moment she was dutifully lying in bed watching reruns of **The Nanny** and perfecting her model patient impression, and the next Lucy was in her room, looking like she'd been beaten and saying all sorts of things that didn't make sense. She didn't calm down until Audrey was able to assure her that Nathan knew what was what and was on his way.

She'd managed to forget that Lucy had never met Nathan, so was completely unprepared for Lucy's reaction when the guys got there. It immediately dispelled her sense of relief.

"Hey-" was as far as Duke got with greeting them before Lucy sprang out of her seat.

"Who are they?" Lucy demanded to know, casting an accusatory look at Audrey. "You said you sent for your brother."

It was difficult to catch Lucy's eye without sitting, but she eventually did. Trying to be as soothing as possible, she explained. "This is Nathan and Duke." she pointed and they waved. "My brother Nathan is the chief of police."

"And him?" Lucy asked shrilly, looking at Duke. He looked back at her with moderate alarm on his face.

"He's Duke." when she realized this told the other woman next to nothing, she added. "My boyfriend. The baby's father."

"Hi," Duke said, voice uncharacteristically small. Audrey wondered if it was his talking to crazy people voice. Haven being what it was, she was sure to have other examples to compare it to someday.

"Does he know?" Lucy asked nervously.

"About the Troubles? About my mother getting your memories?" Audrey asked. "Oh yes."

This must have been the right thing to say because Lucy sat back down, but in the chair farther from Audrey's bed than before. She seemed to fold into herself, but a lot of the tension seemed to flow out of her too, leaving her looking tired instead of ready for a fight.

Duke took the chair Lucy had vacated and rested a hand on Audrey's belly. They all looked at Nathan, who continued to stand.

He sighed. "Can we discuss what happened now?" He looked at Lucy. "Without any yelling."

Lucy gave him a dark look, but nodded. "I was assaulted at my house while taking a nap this afternoon. I woke up to find someone looming over me..." she trailed off, wincing at the memory.

"So you didn't get in a bar fight, gotcha," Duke said. If this was meant to lighten the mood, it didn't work.

"Assaulted by who?" Nathan asked, clearly in cop mode. Audrey bet he wished he had a notebook.

Lucy shook her head. "I don't know."

"Can you describe him?" Without stopping to ask Nathan went through the nightstand Audrey couldn't even reach, and found paper and a pen. She didn't mind, it wasn't like she had any use for it.

"It was so dark, I didn't get a good look at him," Lucy said defensively. "I have those light blocking curtains in my bedroom, and today's the first day I've ever felt like they worked too well."

"Anything you can tell us..." he prompted.

"He was big. Bigger than you. Heavier, maybe taller."

"Did he bear a striking resemblance to Thor?" Duke asked, and then sighed when Audrey glared at him.

"Thor?" Lucy just looked confused.

"What did he want?" Audrey asked during the lull when Duke seemed to be trying to decide if he really wanted to pick a fight with her and Nathan about Dwight. It was her instant instinct to dismiss Duke's thinly veiled accusation but from the look on her boyfriend's face, he might have really meant it.

Lucy looked at her. "It didn't make a lot of sense to me."

"Even so," she prompted.

The older woman sighed and looked at her hands. "He started yelling at me about the Colorado Kid. That makes no sense, though. I followed that story in the papers. The Kid died before you were even born, so how could I know where he is?" she asked Audrey.

"Where he _is_?" Nathan repeated, tone sharp.

Lucy gave him a helpless look. "I know. At first he wouldn't talk to me at all. He just hit me a couple of times. To scare me, I think. Then, real quiet he told me that he knew that she'd had my memories." Lucy glanced at Audrey, as if they needed to be told which she had once possessed her memories. "And then he said that he wanted to know if it worked both ways."

"He wanted to know if you had the other Lucy's memories too?" Duke asked. Audrey squirmed uncomfortably when he forgot himself and put a little too much pressure on her belly. He gave her an apologetic look and put his hand on her leg instead before returning his attention to Lucy. "You're saying he thought you might have...the other Lucy's memories?"

As he said it, Audrey found herself idly wondering what her mother's real name had been, and what sort of life she'd been extracted from when she was sent to Haven like a sleeper agent too. Nathan once joked about her being his only sibling, and she'd said as far as she knew that he was her only sibling too. But really, how could she know when they knew so very little about their shared father and even less about her mother? For all she knew Lucy hadn't been single and aimless like she'd been pre-Haven, maybe she'd been taken away from a husband, even away from other children...

"Exactly," Lucy said, making Audrey pay attention again. "I told him that it was a ridiculous theory, but he..." A pause stretched out as she tried to put what she was thinking into words. "There was such an air of angry desperation about him. I don't know how else to put it, but he seemed to have glommed onto that idea because he wanted it to be true so badly."

"What would he gain if you did have the other Lucy's memories?" Nathan asked evenly. Audrey was sure he'd forced that calm into his tone, because he had to be as concerned that someone was out there trying to stir things up over the Kid murder again as she was.

Her eyes were wide when she turned her head to answer his question. "I told you, he wants to know where the Colorado kid is. Not where he was. He thinks the man is still alive, and hoped that I'd 'remember' something about where he went. As if a twenty-eight-year-old memory would have helped much if I'd even had it in the first place," Lucy scoffed.

"What did he do when you told him you didn't know anything?" Duke asked.

Audrey wondered why he'd bothered asking. The bruises and scratches, not to mention the way Lucy was cradling one wrist in a way that suggested she should really get it x-rayed, all but said what'd he'd done after that.

Lucy thrust her chin up, as if a show of defiance now would change anything. "After he beat me, you mean? He said that her mother wasn't the only one who'd loved the Colorado Kid. Then he spouted some gibberish about how he was going to find him if it was the last thing he did."

Audrey was about to open her mouth and protest that there was no way that anyone could find a dead man, but Nathan surprised her before she could, abruptly excusing himself to step into the hallway to make a phone call.

Lucy got up and walked over to where Audrey could see her better. "Is he going to do anything about it?" she demanded to know, looking in the direction that Nathan had gone. Duke glared at her, but Lucy pretended not to notice.

It was hard not to sigh. At any other time Audrey would be the one trying to convince Nathan that they had to figure out who Lucy's mysterious attacker was five minutes ago if not sooner, but no one was letting her out of that bed. So far she thought she was being a good sport about things, staying in the hospital even longer than they had originally thought she might, but she knew too that it meant the odds of her not being sidelined until after the baby was born were shrinking, even if she did get off of bed rest before then.

She felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Nathan - now she had an inkling of how upsetting it must have been for him last fall, when she was missing and he wasn't able to do anything about it himself. _At least I'll be home a lot sooner_, she reminded herself. But the thought of being at home and still in bed didn't gladden her heart much either.

"Well?" Lucy demanded to know.

It was only then that she remembered the other woman's question. "Of course." Then she thought about it. "But you have to understand that he's not allowed to launch an official investigation given it didn't happen in Haven."

From the look on Lucy's face, this was something that hadn't occurred to her when she'd decided to go to Audrey for help. "Oh."

"Don't worry about it," Duke told Lucy even as he gave Audrey's leg a reassuring squeeze. "Nathan will help you any way, as much as he can."

"Why?" Lucy asked, tone suspicious.

Duke shrugged. "That's just the kind of man he is."

Before Lucy could ask any more questions, Nathan came back into the room. "Lucy? There will be an officer from your town's police department at your house when you get home. He'll take your statement," he said, making them understand who he'd called.

"And you?" Lucy challenged.

"I'll do what I can to look into things from here," Nathan said quietly. It didn't leave much room for argument.

All the fight went out of Lucy suddenly, leaving her look deflated, even old. "Thank you."

Nathan put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, and Audrey found herself idly wondering how much, if at all, he could feel the woman who had lent her mother her memories. Looking down at her, he said, "Thank you for trusting us enough to come to us. We will try to help you. I'm not just saying that."

Lucy offered him a wan smile. "Somehow, I believe you."

"Good." Nathan glanced down at her wrist. "How about you have that taken care of? I've had my share of broken bones, and I've got to admit that doesn't look so good to me."

She went quietly when Nathan made to lead her from the room. Audrey sincerely hoped that Lucy actually would let someone take a look at her wrist before she drove home.

Without Nathan or Lucy there that left Audrey and Duke to look at each other. "This day keeps getting better and better," Duke told her with a sigh. "First Nathan finds a body, then-"

"What body?" Audrey demanded to know. "I talked to him several times today and he never said anything about a body!"

He blinked at her, obviously surprised that she didn't already know. "Um..."

When Nathan returned, Audrey struggled to prop herself up on an elbow before giving up and using the remote to adjust the bed height instead even though she didn't think beds should fold like that. "You found a body?"

"Sorry," Duke muttered, but it was unclear if he was apologizing to her or Nathan.

"Yeah." Nathan didn't look inclined to say more, and it left Audrey feeling like screaming until one of them told her something.

"Do you think it's connected to this?" she pressed, an edge in her voice.

"Not sure why it would be," Nathan eventually said.

"So, was it an accident or something?"

She felt Duke cringe before Nathan replied, "It definitely wasn't an accident. I found it at that Inn where everything else went wrong."

"Then-"

Nathan shook his head. "One problem at a time."

A flicker of surprise crossed Duke's features, and it left her wondering if she looked as startled. It was hard to believe that Nathan thought that the murder was a lower priority.

At least until he explained. "Whatever happened to Lucy...it's key. We know that the Colorado kid is the center of this."

"Are we sure he's dead?" Duke asked and Audrey and Nathan both stared at him. This had him hold up his hands defensively. "It wouldn't be the first time something was covered up in Haven..."

Nathan pulled his phone back out, and didn't bother to step out of the room this time. "Vince and Dave," he said to them.

"Call your dad too," Duke suggested.

"Right." With that, he finally left the room. Audrey thought it was to give her some space rather than as a matter of confidential conversation this time.

"You okay?" Duke asked, leaning in close.

She offered him a tired smile. "I'm okay."

"Sure you're lying?" He sounded tired too.

Audrey looked away. "I thought we were through with the Colorado Kid. Now someone roughed up Lucy Ripley over him?"

"Not to mention the idea that he's still alive is insane," Duke added.

"Exactly." She pushed her hair out of her face, suddenly wishing she could adjust the temperature in the room as easily as the incline of the bed. "But being insane doesn't mean it's not true."

He frowned. "I know."

"They're going to be here soon," Nathan announced, making them both look towards the doorway. "Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this."

"I think I speak for Audrey when I say that we all hope that," Duke told him.

She nodded, but suddenly felt drained. Was she the only one who remembered how cagey the Teagues, had been, she wondered. Or was she just the only one who didn't have it in them to assume that this time they'd be trying to help rather than trying to hinder? From looking at their faces, she thought she was. Or that they were simply too tired of all the BS to even think that it would continue on the same path.

"You look tired," Duke said, and for a second she wondered if all her thoughts could be read on her face or just that one. "Nate and I will go down to the cafe, to give you a few minutes to yourself before the others get here." He waited a beat, maybe to see if she'd protest. She didn't. "Do you want me to bring you back anything?"

"I'd kill for a milkshake," she admitted, realizing how badly she suddenly wanted one. It had to be the heat.

"Don't worry, Nathan, she's not being literal," Duke told him, standing and cuffing Nathan on the shoulder. Nathan rolled his eyes.

"No, I'd only worry that you were being literal."

"Ouch," Duke winced, looking pained for real.

"I didn't mean-" Nathan sputtered. "I know that what happened with that kid was an accident."

"There's where you're wrong," Duke told him mildly as they left the room. "It wasn't an accident. Not my idea, but definitely not an accident."

"True enough," she heard Nathan say just before they got out of earshot.

Alone in her room she let out the sigh she'd been holding in. Nathan was a smart guy, but she thought he was being a fool if he really thought they'd be getting to the bottom of anything any time soon.


	10. Empty Inside

Dave looked both cheerful and concerned when he and Vince arrived. The Chief stepped in after them. Making a beeline for her bed, Dave gave her a small smile. "How are you holding up? I know you expected to be home by now-"

"Is the Colorado Kid alive?" Audrey asked flatly, cutting him off in mid-pleasantry.

"No, of course not," Dave sputtered helplessly before looking at his brother.

"I helped bury him myself, in potter's field," Vince told them.

"Were you there?" Nathan asked his father. The Chief shook his head.

"I don't believe you," Audrey told Vince. He scowled at her. Waving a hand at the brothers, she said, "You haven't been the most stalwart and upstanding citizens as of late, so I'm not just going to take your word for it."

"What do you want us to do, dig up the body?" Dave asked sarcastically.

His jaw dropped when as one Nathan, Audrey and Duke said "Yes."

"We can't just dig up a body..." Dave started to say, but his eyes wandered across the Chief, and he trailed to a stop.

Duke hooked a thumb at him. "That's funny, coming from you."

"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not going to rest easy until we see the body for ourselves," Audrey said quietly.

"Oh, no, you're not going anywhere," Duke said, an unexpected heat in his voice. "This is important, but your health, and the baby's, is more important. You're staying put until the doctor says you can go home, and then you're staying there until she says it's okay."

"You're going to let him talk to you like that?" Nathan sounded disgusted.

"No, but..." She sighed. "Seeing the body is important, though."

"Why?"

Before she could open her mouth, the Chief did. Looking at both his son and Duke, he asked, "If this person went looking for Lucy Ripley because he thought she might be connected to the Kid, why wouldn't he think to try to get information out of Audrey too?"

"Right," Audrey said, flashing the Chief a grateful look. He'd just put her fears into words the guys could understand.

"How could Audrey know anything?" Nathan immediately objected. "She was only hours old when her mother died, months after the Kid's murder."

"You talk like this is a rational person," the Chief said shortly. "He's not."

"I know," Duke said, frustrated.

"We'll dig up the coffin tomorrow," Nathan decided aloud. "If the body's there-"

"It's there!" Vince exclaimed. Dave nodded in agreement.

"-if the body's there, we can at least offer that as proof if he comes back."

"And what, get one of the men with a net from the Freddy to tackle him if he still doesn't believe?" Duke asked.

"Something like that." Looking at Audrey, Nathan then said, "I'm sorry you can't be there-"

But his father interrupted. "Yes she can."

"Come on, didn't we just discuss this?" Duke snapped.

"You have one of those special phones they keep talking about on TV, don't you?" the Chief asked.

"Yes..."

"Then she can be there, at least virtually if I lend her my laptop."

Duke blinked. "Oh."

The Chief crossed the room and put his hand on Duke's shoulder. "And I'll stay behind, to make sure she doesn't decide to come see for herself."

"I don't need a baby-sitter," Audrey complained.

They all looked at her.

"All right. I guess we have a plan, then," Nathan said. He looked at the Teagues, daring them to object again. They both looked away.

"Everybody out," Duke told them, standing and making a shooing motion with his hands. "Audrey needs to rest, and we're not exactly helping."

The others left without complaint, but when he reached the doorway himself, she said, "Duke?" making him turn to look at her. "You stay, okay?"

"Of course," he told her, walking back to her side.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to..." Duke bent to kiss her on the forehead. "If you want me here, someone will have to throw me out to make me leave."

She laughed shakily. "Don't tempt fate."

"Yeah, I guess." He settled himself on the bed well enough to be able to wrap his arms around her.

Duke didn't have to worry about her getting rest: within minutes she relaxed enough to nod off. He didn't dare move even though he wasn't exactly comfortable, but he didn't really mind all that much, not if his being there was comforting enough for her to get some much needed sleep.

* * *

The Next Day

_Being police chief again has its privileges_, Nathan mused as he and Dwight dug into a grave. It meant that no one batted an eye at the five men who had gathered to dig up a murder victim. He'd waved at the three other people who had wandered by, and they'd all waved back like the group was doing something normal. That was a pretty big pass since three of the men had stripped off their shirts, which was not generally accepted normal behavior in a graveyard to begin with. Or at least it'd only be expected of Duke, not Dwight or Nathan.

When Nathan paused for a moment, wiping the sweat off his brow, Duke took advantage of the lull to be heard. "Do you want me to dig for a while?" he asked again.

"No," Nathan said at the same time Audrey's disembodied voice said "Duke, don't."

When Nathan looked up, Duke was frowning down at the screen of his phone. "You're not going to miss anything if you don't see every shovelful of dirt come out of the ground," Duke groused.

"Maybe she just wants to get a steadier view of you with your shirt off," Dave helpfully suggested. When Duke narrowed his eyes at him he merely shrugged. "I watch TV, I know women are now inclined to admit that shirtless men can get them all hot and bothered."

Without seeming aware of it, Dave checked his shirt to make sure it was completely buttoned up. It left Nathan wondering if he expected one of the widows a few graves over to throw herself at him.

Vince gave his brother a doubtful look. "What good would that do her now?" he demanded to know. "It's not like she could do anything about it, not on bed rest."

"Hey!" Duke's phone squawked, but the Teagues ignored it.

"I don't dare speculate. Why do men get in trouble for watching porn at work?" Dave asked.

"Could you please shut up?" Nathan asked, hefting the shovel again. They gave him baleful looks, which he ignored. "Duke, just do what she wants. Dwight and I have this."

"Yeah, okay," he muttered, aiming the phone at the growing hole.

Nathan understood his frustration at what he probably felt was just standing idly by, but he felt more for Audrey. At least Duke was there in person, not marooned in a hospital bed. He made a mental note to try to explain that to Duke soon and got back to digging.

It got a lot quieter when the Teagues wandered a few hundred feet away to bicker about something. Dwight glanced down at him just as their shovels scraped against wood. He realized where Dwight was looking when he muttered "We're going to talk about why you got that sometime soon," he said warningly.

Nathan glared at him, wishing he had a sleeve to pull down over the tattoo he just realized Dwight had only noticed now, before returning his attention to the grave.

* * *

Meanwhile

Audrey didn't say much as she watched Nathan and Dwight uncovered The Colorado Kid's grave. The Chief sat next to her bed, also watching the screen of the laptop. He looked up at her and quietly asked, "You alright, Audrey?"

She muted the computer and sighed. "I should be there."

Her brother's father gave her a measured look. "You don't strike me as much of a digger."

Audrey opened her mouth, but shut it again. It was true, even if she was there, she wouldn't be a, lot of help unearthing the coffin. But that didn't spare her feeling like she was letting them down by not being there.

The Chief startled her when he gave her hand a consoling pat. "I know this is hard on you," he said. "Course it is. If someone asked me to tell them what Audrey Parker was like, saying she's a woman content to be on the sidelines wouldn't come into it. I get it."

This should have made her feel better, but it didn't. "It's not just this, today," she said quietly.

"Oh?"

Audrey sighed. "It feels like I'm missing out on too much. Like Jess. I didn't get to say goodbye before she left. I didn't get to make Nathan feel better by inviting him to come out with Duke and me for a good meal and a bad movie he and Duke can pick apart..."

"Nobody blames you for that."

She struggled to make herself more comfortable for a moment before giving up. "Maybe they should." When he looked up at her, she frowned. "If I hadn't insisted on going to the damn fair, none of this would have happened. I brought this upon myself."

"You can't think like that," the Chief said with a firmness she hadn't expected.

"Why not?" she demanded to know. "You can't deny I wouldn't be here if we skipped the fair like Duke had wanted to."

"I can't say that," he agreed. "But as far as I know that poor Vanessa is the only one who could see the future, so I think you're being damn hard on yourself for wanting to attend an event that is rarely dangerous."

"Rarely? Not 'never'?" Audrey asked, mostly to deflect his proclamation about why she shouldn't feel guilty.

"Well, there was that incident with the greased pigs getting loose in 89..."

* * *

E

Even though he felt like he was filming the world's most boring reality show Duke knew better than to suggest that Nathan and Dwight dig faster. First, he still felt a little guilty for not helping them dig. And second, he knew from past experience that neither man would hesitate to kick his ass if he did. Maybe literally.

Once they uncovered the coffin, he waved Vince and Dave over, doing his best not to get his hand in the way of the phone's camera. The two men waved back, but didn't hurry over.

"What the hell have they been up to?" Duke asked. The brothers had stepped away several minutes ago.

"Scheming," Nathan told him, sounding out of breath.

Duke blinked; he hadn't expected an answer to his mostly rhetorical question. "No doubt."

"You boys are quick," Dave told Nathan and Dwight as he peered down at them. Duke had been about to say that was only in comparison to old guys like him and Vince when Vince abruptly took the phone out of his hand. He could only imagine how big Vince's face must appear to Audrey and the Chief. The word looming came to mind...

"Audrey," Vince said to the screen, tone abrupt. "You sure you want Duke to do a close-up on the casket when the boys get the lid off? Might be... messy."

"After twenty-eight years?" she asked. "It'll just be bones."

"Still..." Vince said doubtfully. He didn't acknowledge the sharp look Duke threw him. This made Duke doubly suspicious that Vince was trying to hide something.

"Vince, it's not like I haven't seen a skeleton before," Audrey told him. "I'll be fine."

"Okay."

Duke wondered if Audrey realized that she'd just alluded to her past, the real one, not the one shoplifted from a Boston FBI agent. She was usually pretty reluctant to talk about the past she could now remember, but sometimes things slipped out. And he couldn't imagine a place other than nursing school where she might have seen a skeleton: as far as he knew the coroner had dealt with the boat that had finally resurfaced with a dead crewman still inside...

By the time he stopped pondering where Audrey had seen bones, Nathan and Dwight were prying at the lid of the coffin. The crowbar was probably Dwight's given Nathan had never hit him with it despite offering enough provocation to over the years. Unless it was new? He squinted down at it. No, it didn't look new.

By chance Duke had positioned himself on the right side of the coffin to see into it the moment the lid came off.

Nathan and Dwight began to swear, and he thought he heard Audrey cry "no!" but he'd immediately looked up at Vince the second he realized that the wooden box held bricks instead of bones. Vince and Dave didn't look surprised. That bothered him more than the conversation they'd stepped away to have.

"There's something written on the lid," Nathan announced, and everyone shut up.

Duke dutifully panned the phone's camera over the words so Audrey and the Chief could read them too.

"Find him before The Hunter," Nathan read aloud, probably in case the camera wasn't clear enough. "What does that even mean?"

"Forget what it means," Duke said abruptly. "Who wrote it? I mean, it looks an awful lot like your handwriting, Audrey," he told the phone.

* * *

This had Audrey shocked silent in the hospital room. The hand writing did look a lot like hers. "It's not," she declared firmly. "In case you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly had time to dig up a body and leave a message."

"Grave hasn't been disturbed, either," Dwight calmly pointed out. "That wasn't written any time recently."

"Then who...?" Duke asked uselessly, breaking off in frustration.

"I know who," the Chief startled Audrey by announcing.

"Who?!" all three shirtless men in the graveyard asked predictably. The camera wasn't on the Teagues so Audrey couldn't see if they reacted. They certainly didn't comment.

"Lucy's. Our Lucy, I mean," he clarified, lest anyone think he meant the woman who'd gone back to her house with an arm in a sling yesterday. "First few times I read Audrey's reports it bothered me that her handwriting looked familiar, so I compared it to something Lucy had written."

Duke's remark that the handwriting in his father's journal was "achingly familiar" flitted through her mind before she tried to make sense of what the Chief had just said. She looked at him askance, wondering if there was any way she could ask him why he would have kept anything Lucy had written after she confessed to killing his wife. There didn't seem to be.

"Dad, what's she referring to?" Nathan asked, leaning on the shovel he no longer needed to use.

The Chief's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, but only for her benefit. "Don't know. She never mentioned a hunter to me."

"She probably meant my dad," Duke said sourly. "He did hunt her after all."

"Maybe she meant Dave," Nathan suggested. "Or someone like him. A real hunter."

"Okay, maybe, but who's 'him'?" Duke asked.

No one had any ideas about that.

* * *

Sunday

Every time the Land Rover hit another bump in the road, mostly courtesy of Haven's town council claiming that there wasn't money in the budget to deal with the year's proliferation of potholes, Duke winced worriedly.

At least until Audrey gave his shoulder a mild shove. "I'm not made of glass, you know."

"I know."

"Really?"

"If you mean I'm sure you won't shatter into sharp shards if I drop you on the floor or ground, then yeah, I'm sure."

A smile played at the corners of her lips. "You plan to drop me any time soon?"

"I do not. I'm going to be very careful on the stairs."

Audrey stopped looking so amused. "The stairs?"

"You aren't supposed to climb them," Duke pointed out. This still seemed to surprise her. "Were you expecting a crane, maybe?"

"The way they keep smashing into buildings? No."

"I will be very careful," Duke promised as he pulled the car into the Gull's lot. "I don't think you want me to install you in the Gull's storage room, so..."

"No, it'll be okay," she said, but she still looked a little nervous.

For some reason this amused him. It was very clear she'd given no thought at all to how she was going to get up to the apartment if she wasn't supposed to walk. Fortunately he had.

By the time he went around to her side of the truck, she'd taken her seatbelt off. "It's okay, really. Just put your arm around my neck."

"Okay." A hint of doubt filled her tone.

He gave her what he hoped would be interpreted as a reassuring smile. "Come on, I didn't manage to drop you last time, and back then I had a gash in my leg and had nearly drown less than an hour earlier."

Audrey did smile, but it was wan. "No stairs then."

"Oh, Audrey." Duke shook his head before leaning in to pick her up.

The tight grip on his neck betrayed her concern, but she didn't make any further complaints.

It only took a couple of minutes to maneuver the stairs, then he had them at the door. At the top of the stairs he felt a pang he wasn't expecting. Two thoughts chased each other through his mind and neither was particularly welcome. The first was wistful irritation when he considered the odds of carrying her over a threshold with rings on their fingers. The other was an aching memory of him and Evi bumping into each other as they stumbled through the doorway of their hotel room after their quickie ceremony and longer tenure in the hotel's bar. Evi had been on her own feet; she'd laughed and called him ridiculously patriarchal for daring make the suggestion. Looking back he could now see that as a red flag about their compatibility but then he'd just tried to shrug off the sting.

"You okay?" Audrey asked, sounding mildly concerned.

"Trying to figure out how to use my key," he claimed.

"You're breathing a little heavily."

"Audrey." He grimaced. "Don't make me say it," he begged.

She caught on instantly, as he knew she would. "That I'm fat? It's okay. I know I'm fat."

"Right." He snorted. "Even with twenty-five extra pounds on you, you still don't weigh much."

"It's not just what the scale says," Audrey protested, but he thought she looked a little pleased too. "My waist has long since fleet to parts unknown."

"I'll help you apprehend it," he promised as he swung the door open.

"Really. How?"

"I'll look after her if you want to exercise," he promised as he made his way across the apartment. It was true that she was quite a bit heavier, but still pretty light all things considered.

He expected her to let go immediately once he set her down, but she held his neck. He almost asked her why, but then she kissed him. "Nice."

"I can be," he agreed.

By the time she scooched to the middle of the bed, she was giving him a suspicious look. "You can be, but it's not an exactly selfless action."

He helped her settle more comfortably. "It's not?" He thought for a moment. "I know it's not 'baby-sitting' when it's your own kid."

"I know you're more than smart enough to know that." He invited her to go one with a look. "It's not like you'll get nothing out of me getting back into shape."

"Oh. good thing I never said anything like that."

To his surprise this left her pouting at him. "Then it's true."

"That I'd prefer you be in shape? Yeah." Before she could launch into a complaint, he held up his left hand. "You can't say that it doesn't cut both ways, Babe."

"Wha-"

"If I gained twenty-five pounds, you'd want me to lose it as quickly as I could," Duke felt ok with pointing out. He had no illusions that an over-weight, out of shape him would have had a much harder time capture her or most other women's attention. That was just how the world worked, fair or not.

"Probably, but it kind of depends," she said.

Duke raised a skeptical eyebrow. "On?"

"Are we talking about you gaining 25 pounds on Cheetos and cheap beer? Or something more tragic like a twenty-five pound tumor?" It was obvious that sounding as serious and thoughtful as she did was costing her a great deal of effort.

He nodded solemnly. "Gotta be a tumor. I don't drink cheap beer and goldfish aren't the only cheese-flavored product I shun."

"A tumor," she said sadly.

"One of those terrible ones with teeth, hair, and an eyeball or ear," he added gravely.

"What if it had more hair than the baby?" Audrey asked.

That's when they both completely lost their composure. They were still giggling like fools when Nathan came by half an hour later.


	11. Stay in bed

Nathan had expected to arrive and find Audrey worried and irritated, and Duke hovering at least as much as he had at the hospital. He didn't expect for the pair of them to be laughing like idiots.

After a minute or so he began to worry about the possibility that one of Duke's employees had accidentally created a gas leak. "What's so funny?" he demanded to know.

They looked at each other and Audrey gasped out "Teratomas'" before dissolving into a fresh peal of giggles.

Nathan gave her a long look. "Tumors are funny?"

"It's not a toomah!" Duke snorted.

After a second Nathan remembered the quote. He stared at them and shook his head

sadly. "It's going to be a long four weeks. I expect to be visiting at least one of you at The Freddy by the end of it."

"Lighten up, Nate," Duke demanded. "If you can't laugh about a tumor having more hair than a baby, what can you laugh about?"

He gave them a long look. "Right..."

"So what's up?" Audrey asked, shaking off the giggles at last.

Nathan shrugged. "Just wanted to stop by and take you up on the offer of watching a movie together." He was pretty sure they actually wanted him around, despite their own concerns. "If that's okay?"

"Of course." Duke nodded.

But Audrey was smirking. She looked at her boyfriend. "Aaww, Duke, he misses me."

"Yes," Nathan said with a roll of his eyes. "The quiet in the office has been terrible."

"You been in danger of getting some paperwork done?" Duke asked, voice dripping with mock concern. When Nathan nodded he exclaimed, "Terrible!"

"I'm not that bad!" she complained but her expression said not even she believed that.

Duke patted her knee. "You are but it's part of your charm."

She grimaced at them. "Thanks a lot."

"I for one find your loquacious nature refreshing," Duke said animatedly. "And I'm pretty sure you're all that's kept Nathan out of Guinness for the least words spoken per year by a man with normal hearing and powers of speech."

"Don't think that's a category they keep track of," she said, smiling.

"Doesn't mean they couldn't start," Duke claimed.

Nathan sighed. "Someone's got to be the strong silent type, and it sure the hell isn't going to be your boyfriend here."

"Hey!"

Audrey propped herself up a little better while they bickered. "Nathan, how are _you_?"

He blinked. "Me?" He wasn't the one terrified for the baby, or at least not as much as her parents had to be, so he honestly didn't expect either of them to care how anyone else who wasn't bleeding was.

'"Yes, you. With Jess gone it must've been a long week for you too. You doing okay?"

Before he could respond to that, Duke gave him a much more serious look. "It's hard to do things on your own when you've gotten used to doing them with someone else. I know Jess had to go, but it's got to suck for you both."

He felt touched by their unexpected concern... at least until Audrey said, "Especially sleeping alone."

"Uh... let's not touch that topic," Nathan muttered. He could feel his cheeks burning.

"Right, right," Audrey said quickly. "Add that to the list of topics you don't discuss with siblings."

"Depends on the siblings," Duke said, looking disgusted. "I know more about my brothers' sex lives back when we were younger than anyone should ever have to know." He gave Nathan a speculative glance. "Although I guess walki- ow!"

Nathan wouldn't admit he was grateful that Audrey had cut Duke off with a well-timed elbowing, but he was.

Duke looked at him and said, "You're staying for dinner." It wasn't a question.

Nathan nodded. Even after just a week, eating alone was beginning to depress him.

"Good. While I cook, could you go downstairs and ask one of the servers to give you three of the trays in the storeroom? I think that might be easier than trying to get the kitchen table closer to the bed."

The idea of interacting with Duke's staff didn't fill him with joy, but he had to admit that it made more sense to get trays they could eat on than to rearrange the furniture so Audrey didn't feel left out. Somehow, he had a feeling that Duke's tray was going to get a lot of use over the next few weeks. However, the mental image of them trying to get Audrey situated so she could eat at the table too almost had him smiling. It made him think of visiting family-style restaurants with highchairs the right height for babies reach the table.

Looking at Duke he just said, "I'm on it."

"Thanks, Nate."

* * *

Duke was just finishing the dishes when someone knocked on the door. Nathan put down the freshly washed plates he was still drying and glanced at Audrey. "Should I get it?"

"Why not?" she asked easily.

Duke realized that Nathan had asked her because of the three of them she was probably the least likely to be up for company on her first day out of the hospital. But apparently she didn't care. If she could be welcoming to guests after dinner, so could he. Nathan he wasn't as sure about.

As it always did when he found himself confronting police officers in unexpected situations, Duke's heart gave a lurch when he realized the man that Nathan open the door to was in uniform. But after a second he realized it was just Stan, and the cheerful expression on his face hinted loudly that he wasn't there on any sort of police business.

He smiled at Audrey. "You look good."

She smirked back. "Stan, don't take up playing poker."

Stan shook his head. "No, I mean it."

"Um..." It didn't surprise Duke that she looked like she was tearing up. He'd caught her crying over Hallmark commercials more than once over the past three months. But at least this time she didn't actually cry. "Thank you."

"I'm sure Nathan's told you, but everyone that station has been worried. Kicked by a cow, that's the damnedest thing. Wouldn't be the weirdest way someone in town got hurt, but it ranks up there."

Duke gave the other cop a sidelong glance. Was Stan trying to say that he had some idea about the Troubles, or did he just simply chalk all the weird things that happened up as strange one-off events? It was hard to say. And he wasn't going to ask.

"Well, you can tell them I'm fine."

Stan nodded. "Oh, I will. I'm just glad that you're taking it easy like the doctor said to."

This seemed to get Audrey's back up, like Duke suspected it would. "Oh?" she asked, note of challenge in her voice.

If Stan noticed, he simply ignored. "Did I ever tell you about when Ben and Ethan were born?"

Duke wondered where the cop was going with this story. From what Audrey told him Stan had a few kids, but he'd never really figured out how many. Somehow though, he suspected the story was about the twins. They were the youngest, or next to it.

Audrey just shook her head. "No."

"Well, they were born over a month early. We were so worried, spending all that time in the NICU until they got bigger and stronger, and my wife kept asking me if I thought that she had done something wrong to make them come so early. I kept trying to reassure her that twins just come early a lot of the time, but still…" Stan broke off and looked away. Looking back he gave her a faint smile. "In the end they were healthy, and I guess that's all we can ask for."

"Yeah…" Audrey said slowly. To Duke she looked a little bit worried.

Stan hadn't sat down, and it began to seem like he wasn't going to when he said, "Laverne sends her love. She'd like to stop by later this week if you're up for it."

"Tell her any time," Audrey said, sounding genuinely pleased.

"Well, it's been great seeing you. But I've got to get home. My night to cook dinner."

* * *

Stan hadn't been gone for ten minutes when someone else knocked on the door. Audrey looked at Nathan and said, "Nathan could you…?"

"No problem."

"Oh, hi, Claire," Nathan said, before he unblocked the doorway so they could see the next person coming for a visit.

Knowing it was Claire left Duke tempted to cringe. It wasn't as if he had anything against her personally, not really, but he knew from things that both Audrey and Nathan said that Claire had no idea how to talk to someone without being a doctor. This had led to Audrey complaining several times about conversations with the woman. And a morbidly fascinated part of him wondered what sort of verbal train wreck Claire would bring tonight.

Claire came in without waiting to be asked, which didn't really surprise Duke much. From everything he knew about the woman boundaries weren't something she was big on. "Hi Claire," Duke said warily.

"Hi." Claire looked at him briefly before walking over to Audrey and perching on the edge of the bed, which seemed a little inappropriate to him but he didn't complain when Audrey didn't. Looking at Audrey, she frowned and asked, "How are you doing?" in a tone that nearly had Duke rolling his eyes.

"Uh...I'm okay," Audrey told her. "Glad to be here instead of in the hospital."

"Because of the nurses?" Claire asked. "I'm sure you didn't enjoy being told what to do."

"Because it's not in my nature?" Audrey asked wryly. She didn't smile when Claire looked like she agreed.

"It's not, is it?" Claire asked. Duke supposed it was rhetorical. "You're not the sort of person who likes to hear what others have to say even if it's in your best interest."

"Claire..." Nathan said warningly. Duke was amused: it reminded him of kids in school defending their siblings even though they annoyed the crap out of them themselves.

"She's a big girl, Nathan," Claire chided him. "She's strong enough to listen to some honest criticism."

Audrey scowled, but didn't correct her therapist.

"I don't think anyone else is going to point out to you that sometimes we have to sacrifice our autonomy for the greater good," Claire told Audrey. "These two certainly won't. They're too concerned about your feelings."

"Hey Claire, aren't you supposed to care about your patients' feelings too?" Duke asked, also growing annoyed with the woman's sanctimony. He knew Audrey was going to have difficulty coping with bed rest but he didn't think lecturing her was going to make that any easier to bear. She turned and gave him a look that made him feel uncomfortably measured. "I do. Really. But the sort of feelings I care most about are ones of regret that could be avoided."

"Unh huh."

Looking back at Audrey, she said, "Like one of my clients-"

"Who?" Nathan inquired from the chair he'd returned to after opening the door.

"Sorry, I can't tell you. Doctor-patient confidentiality issues."

"But it's okay for you to use their story as an object lesson?" Duke asked, disgusted.

"We're all object lessons for someone, Mister Crocker."

"Wow, you must be fun at parties," Duke muttered. "I'd say my dad is Mister Crocker, but..." He spread his hands and gave Nathan and Audrey a look that made them smile but clearly left Claire confused. So he made a 'go-on' gesture towards her.

"One of my patients was completely convinced that no one could advise her how to parent any better than she could figure out on her own. Lots of people tried to give her good advice, but she turned a deaf ear to all of it-"

"And her troubled kid ended up burning people to death with his mind?" Duke guessed.

Claire narrowed her eyes at him. "I didn't say the boy was troubled."

"Well, playing the odds, you know?"

"He didn't burn anyone, but he did come to a very bad end."

"An end six feet under?" Nathan suggested.

"A definitive end," Claire said firmly.

"What was the point of this vague yet disturbing story?" Audrey asked plaintively. Only then did Duke realize that it must have gotten to her because she'd balled up the throw blanket that had been on the bed, and she only did that sort of thing when she was worried. A shawl Eleanor had given her had all its fringe tangled up due to the issues they'd dealt with the year before.

Claire stood up before patting Audrey's head. "Just promise you'll stay in bed. Take it easy. Let people help you."

"If I do, will you promise not to make any more house calls?"

"Yes. See you." With that Claire left them to look at each other.

"No wonder you don't enjoy your sessions," Duke remarked in her wake.

"She's not always that heavy handed."

"Nathan, what college did she graduate from?" Duke asked.

Nathan held his hands up. "I had no say in who the department hired."

"Good to know." Looking at Audrey he gave her a sad smile. "Guess there's no sense in putting him in a headlock until he agrees to replace her, then."

"Funny."

"Is now a bad time?"

Both Duke and Nathan jumped. Dave gave them an apologetic look. "I could come back..."

"No, come on in," Audrey invited. "We seem to be having an open house tonight."

"What?" Dave looked confused.

"We invited Nathan over. You're the third person to drop by unexpectedly after that," Duke explained.

"I'm half expecting my father to show up," Nathan told them. When Duke looked at him, he just said, "Well, he likes **Jurassic Park** too," reminding Duke of why they'd asked him over in the first place.

Audrey had worried that he'd be lonely, so Duke had suggested they lure him over to watch a favorite movie. Something about the scene with the dinosaur eating the lawyer had always cheered Nathan right up in the past, so he hadn't been surprised when the invite had been accepted.

"I won't stay long if you're planning to watch a movie," Dave said quickly.

Duke nearly said hallelujah when the remark didn't cause Audrey or Nathan to tell him to stay as long as he liked. Eyeing Dave, he wondered where his brother was. And if their obvious codependency was the reason both men were still single as old as they were. It kind of reminded him of the siblings in the Anne of Green Gables mini-series Audrey made him watch after he made her watch the **Aliens** trilogy.

"You look better than I expected, Audrey," Dave told her.

She just gave him a puzzled smile. "Thanks?"

"I just figured you'd be more haggard. From worry," he went on. Duke almost gave into the impulse to drag the smaller man out of the room while there was still time to save him, but he hadn't ever been a big fan of the Teagues, so he decided to see how deep a hole he could dig himself instead. "I mean, back when Sarah was worried about Lucy, she was a complete wreck."

Suddenly Audrey looked more interested than upset. "I'd almost forgotten that you knew my grandmother." Dave didn't cringe. Duke would have. "We heard that she disappeared when Lucy was still a baby. Do you know what happened to her?"

"No," Dave said quickly, convincing no one. "I was out of town, hunting."

_Sure_, Duke thought. _How convenient_.

"Oh." Audrey looked disappointed. Probably because she also realized that he'd continue to lie though his teeth.

"I guess she was right to worry, all things considered," Dave added. When they looked at him, he said, "Whatever happened, it did take her from her baby."

"Uh huh," Duke said, standing up and crossing the distance between him and Dave. "It's a shame that you've got to be going now. Been nice chatting with you, or whatever that was."

For a second Dave seemed confused but caught on that he was being given the bum's rush when Duke subtly forced him to walk towards the door. "Take care, Audrey," Dave called from the porch.

"Yeah, okay," she agreed, just as Duke shut the door.

"God, remind me to pick you up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign the next time I'm at the village store," Nathan muttered. He was already opening the almost forgotten DVD case. Looking up at Duke, he said, "If this keeps up she's not going to get much rest."

"Yeah, I know."

Audrey cleared her throat, and when they looked at her, she looked really annoyed. "So, did one of you plan this?"

"Huh?" Duke asked for them both. He glanced at Nathan but didn't get the impression that he'd had any more to do with the unexpected visitors than he had.

She waved her hands as she spoke. "I mean, I get it. I'm going to stay in bed. I don't need a parade of people telling me scary stories to keep me in bed. I'm about as worried about the baby as I can be, so why would I even think of putting her in jeopardy like everyone seems sure I will?"

It was very obvious that the stories had really upset her, and Duke was tempted to tell her that he'd set it all up. The problem was he hadn't. Everyone had seemed to come to the conclusion that she needed the encouragement to follow doctors' orders on their own. Maybe he should lie, just so she could think that only one person lacked that sort of faith in her. But he couldn't. Because it being him would only be worse.

Nathan seemed to be thinking along the same lines, but he didn't volunteer himself or Duke. "I bet Stan put them up to it."

"You do?" Audrey sounded doubtful.

"Oh yeah. Stan's a real worrywart. You should have seen him back before his youngest kids got out of the hospital. He was a complete wreck."

"So you think what, he's projecting?"

"Uh huh."

This seemed to pacify, if confuse her, so Duke took advantage of that. Holding his hand out, he said, "Nate, disk please? We've got to watch this now if everyone's gonna get to bed at a reasonable time." The words coming out of his mouth surprised him a little, and served as a reminder of how different, respectable almost, his life had become since the night he fished a half-drowned Audrey out of the water.

"Right. I'm going to turn off the lights," Nathan told him as he handed the DVD over. "Maybe anyone else who shows up will take a hint."

"I don't think they'll think we're sleeping. Not with the roaring," Audrey pointed out.

"They'll just think someone really pissed you off if they're close enough to overhear," Nathan said with a smirk. It fell off his face when Audrey hucked the DVD case at him.


	12. Stir Crazy or Maybe Just Crazy

Two Days Later

Garland Wournos sat out on the end of the pier of his private dock. It was old and weathered, and needed some work, not unlike the chief himself. The old dock bobbed in the water, moving with the water. The clunk of heavy feet jarred the motions of the dock. Without turning he said gruffly, "I don't know how those Teague boys find fishing relaxing. I mean, I've been out here all day and nothing. Wasted it. Not a fish in the sea."

Dwight settled himself down by the old man. "Probably fish out there, just they aren't where you think they are."

"How's Audrey?" he asked, keeping his attention firmly on the bobber that sat on the waves, coming closer to shore with the tide. The Chief knew that Dwight had been around Nathan earlier, so no doubt he'd heard the younger man either worry or complain about his sister. And Jess too, no doubt. It made him long for her return because a worried Nathan was a grumpy Nathan and he was facing worries on two fronts.

"Stir crazy. Or maybe just being driven crazy. She's hatching some kind of plan to try to get Nathan to steal Duke's cell phone, so she can call and have someone beg Duke to take the job he was offered up north or something." Dwight grinned, having heard Audrey ask Nathan point blank when he was participating in his legitimate job as janitor.

The older man nodded curtly. "Just as well. I can't imagine the two of them being constantly together while she's on bed rest will be a good combination. Those two get along like a house afire until it explodes."

The blond nodded. "Nathan told her no, which didn't go over well as you can imagine." Dwight dug around in his pocket for a moment. He laughed, a slightly sinister laugh. "And she didn't ask me, but I figured, she might actually need a break from him." Duke's cell phone appeared in the big man's hands. "You feel like making a call?"

Garland turned to Dwight, a half smile on his face. "Give me that."

"Password is 'Acrobat' and I think the right number is the 7th one down. Not sure when he'll notice his phone's gone," Dwight offered.

The old chief nodded, entering the password and finding the caller ID list to find the correct number. He hit redial and while waiting for someone to pick up on the other end asked "How'd you get it off him?"

"He's remarkably distracted when Audrey's around."

The ex-Chief took that to mean that Dwight pick-pocketed Duke at some point. The phone was answered and the old man lost 20 years off of his voice. "Yeah, I'm calling from Crocker Shipping, yeah, some punk answered the phone earlier and told you I wasn't interested. Well, I am. Can you send me the information at my address? Yeah, thanks."

The old man ended the call, pressing the button firmly on the screen. He handed the phone back to Dwight. "You get this phone back to him?"

The younger man spared the old man a withering glance. "I make all evidence of the town's troubles disappear. You think that I can't manage to return a cell phone?"

"Ask a stupid question..." the man sighed. "Can you ensure that the paperwork ends up with me rather than him?"

"How are you going to ensure he goes? I can't pilot the ship. I can lock him in a closet for you, but I was a ranger, not a SEAL." Dwight was clearly relishing this particular mission.

"I'll think of something, I'm sure." He reeled in the line that had long since gone slack. He cast again and managed to catch the trees overhanging the cove. "Damn it! I still don't understand why those Teague boys like this."

Dwight shrugged.

The Chief looked up at him. "It's only a few days' work. I know she wants a break, that's all."

"Still not sure how you'll get him to go," Dwight pointed out.

"I can be inventive when I need to be," Garland insisted. He didn't share the fact that he'd already been giving it a good deal of thought. "Might just need to make another, but if I do I can use my own phone for that one."

"Who are you going to call?" Dwight asked.

Garland just gave him a long look. The other call wasn't going to be to anyone Dwight would approve of, and he'd rather not hear about it.

* * *

That Evening

Audrey sighed when she heard footsteps on the stairs outside. She really loved Duke, but he was really driving her insane too. It had only took being home a day to realize that, unlike cartoon characters ringing a bell for endless attention, she didn't really enjoy having someone at her beck and call; she was far too used to looking after herself, if not quite successfully in the pre-Haven days, to feel comfortable with being in need of help now.

The door opened, and Duke made a beeline for her. "Hey, Audrey. Did you want to watch-"

"Duke, could you grab that paper on my printer?" she asked quickly.

He picked it out of the tray, and his eyes scanned it. "What's this?"

"The crib we ordered arrived at the store," she explained. After a lot of debate and Duke getting down on his hands and knees with a measuring tape more than once, they found a crib that would fit into the apartment. Unfortunately they'd deliver it to a store, but not a home, so it had to be picked up.

"Oh. I should go get it."

"They close at eight. I checked for you." It was just after seven.

Duke leaned down to kiss her. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Love you."

_I have no doubt you'll be back as fast as possible_, she thought. "Love you too. Drive careful."

"Always," he declared. When she stared at him he mumbled, "starting now."

Audrey waited until she heard his truck drive off before pulling out her cell phone and dialing a familiar number. "'Have you thought of anything yet?" she asked, not bothering to hide her exasperation.

The man on the other end chuckled. When Nathan flatly turned her down, it had only taken a couple of hours before the Chief had heard from her himself that afternoon. "I have, but I'm not sure how much you're going to like it."

"Lay it on me," the blonde said with a sigh. "It's got to be better than being cherished to death."

"He's not that bad, is he?" the Chief asked. He sounded amused.

"I'm afraid for anyone to take his blood pressure. He practically worries himself ill if I so much as sneeze. This might be irritating to me, but it's downright bad for him..." Audrey fretted out loud. "This much stress - and I know he is worried about money too even though he doesn't say much - can't be sustainable. Even if he is healthy and relatively young."

"He'll worry even if he is not there with you," the Chief pointed out.

"I know. But being busy will give him a break from it at times. And maybe...Maybe if he has a few days of worry-lite he'll worry less when he gets back."

"Could be," Nathan's father allowed.

"So what's your idea?" Audrey asked, making an effort to wrench the topic back.

"Like I said, you're probably not going to love this," he said and then laid out his plan.

She wrinkled her nose when he finished. "You're right, I don't love it. But yeah, it could work. Thanks," she said, trying not to sound half-hearted when he said how long he thought the plan would take; it was twice as long as she bargained for.

Still, beggars couldn't be choosers. It still surprised her that Nathan refused to help and it stung a little. But he'd really put his foot down, flatly stating that if she had problems with Duke being under foot all the time, she had to tell him that plainly. _God help him when he gets married if he really tries that_, she thought. "I really appreciate someone listening to me."

The Chief laughed. "We can't have our girl driven completely insane before the baby gets here can we?" She was about to agree, but then he said, "Tradition says that shouldn't happen until after you've been up with the baby several weeks' worth of nights in a row."

"That's why you didn't marry Nathan's mother until he was a year and a half old," Audrey accused. She could swear that she could hear him shrugging.

"Took a while for her divorce to be finalized," he replied blandly.

"Un huh. Pull the other one, it has bells on it," she retorted.

Bantering with the Chief did make her feel a little better, because he at least still gave as good as he got. It made her wonder how old the baby would be before everyone else in her life saw her as a normal human being, who wouldn't fall apart if picked on, again. Maybe they'd hold off until the baby was sleeping through the night, she found herself thinking after the Chief lobbed another zinger her way. Maybe.

* * *

The first thing Audrey said when Duke wrestled the box into the apartment was "you don't have to put that together tonight" but he sort of did have to. There was no way he was going to tell Audrey that he felt it'd be inviting karma to swat him if he waited, but he really couldn't shake the worry that the baby would come before got around to building the crib if he didn't make time for it then and there, and he wasn't eager to court any other disasters to eat up his time between then and their daughter's birth. So he'd shrugged and said "No time like the present."

"Always driving carefully, no procrastination... my, my, the baby isn't even here yet and parenthood is already changing you," Audrey teased.

"I'm already a father," he muttered under his breath.

He only realized she'd heard when she said, "I know. How's Jean doing?"

Duke shrugged. After they found out their baby was a girl he'd done some soul searching: beyond his fears about what could happen to Audrey when she gave birth was part of the reason he'd been so pleased when they'd thought the baby was a boy because Jean was a girl? Not because he wanted "one of each" because he and Audrey had already discussed having more than one child if they were going to have any, but because he was so determined for things to be "different" with this baby. With a woman he loved vs. a stranger, involved in all aspects of the baby's life vs. only the occasional photo or e-mail, and boy vs. girl would have been a significant difference too.

"Apparently she's getting into everything and charming people by speaking in complete sentences," he told her.

"Complete sentences already?" Audrey asked. "Guess she'll it's certain she's yours, not Nathan's."

"Very droll." Duke smirked. "As if Nathan was ever in any danger from Helena."

She confused him by saying, "Why? He's not anywhere near ugly or anything. Before we knew we were related even I noticed that."

"What?" Duke asked, wondering why she was bring up Nathan's looks. But then he figured it out. "I didn't mean she wouldn't have hit on him."

"Then...?"

"He wouldn't sleep with a complete stranger?" he suggested.

"Oh. Probably true."

He'd begun with emptying the box right after that. At first he braced himself for helpful suggestions from his beloved that may or may have been practical, but she didn't say anything as he constructed the first third of the crib. It was only when he yanked off his sweaty shirt and didn't get yelled at for being a tease that he looked closely enough at her to realize she'd fallen asleep despite the racket he was making.

He paused long enough to plant a kiss on her brow, and then got back to work. The progress Duke made was satisfactory, but it was hot, sweaty work. So, given he was the only one awake, he stripped off his pants, determined to finish the project in just his boxers. He promised himself that he'd be extra careful not to injure all that exposed skin, but he knew from past experience that this was something he was better at in theory than practice.

So it didn't surprise him much that the phone ringing made him slam his hand between two pieces hard enough to bruise it. "Audrey, could you-" he started to say before he remembered that not only was she sleeping, she couldn't have reached his phone even if she had been awake; it was just a few feet from him, not her.

"Aw, damn," he sighed when it continued to ring. He pawed at the nearby tabletop without bothering to get up, and knocked the phone into his lap. "Hello?" he asked, feeling absurd to be on the phone as he sat in his no longer gleamingly white boxers, surrounded by crib parts.

"Bad time, Duke?" an amused voice purred.

Her tone made him feel paranoid and exposed, mostly because it was easy to imagine her spying on him. "What do you want, Katie?"

"Rumor has it that you've managed to knock up your boring little cop girlfriend. Condom broke?"

"Jesus."

"You've found religion?" she asked, mockingly surprised. "I didn't peg you as a Catholic or Mormon. Or maybe like those Duggar people. What do you call that sect? Something about arrows."

"Tell me what you want before I hang up," he said flatly.

"What I was going to say is that I'm aware that babies are a sink hole of financial obligation which is why I'm avoiding motherhood myself, so I'm sure extra money would be handy to support your larva. I have a job that could use someone with you... talents next week." She paused. "If you think you could wrangle custody of your spine and manhood for a few days. Interested?"

"Gee Katie, when you put it so charmingly, how could I not be?" Duke asked. Somehow he thought she was less avoiding motherhood than scaring away men who might be dumb enough to sleep with her. Unless that whole fear reflex he heard about wasn't just BS...

"I think I'm sensing sarcasm."

"Very astute," he praised her. "Where are you going and why?" he found himself asking. He'd have to be insane to do anything with Katie McCready, but maybe if he heard her out he might be able to tip Nathan off about something that could lead to jail time. Not really to be helpful to Nathan, but to spite her. He was sure there were still things he hadn't gotten back at her for yet.

"All I'd need from you is some heavy lifting. Quite a lot of it, actually, so if that big blond friend of yours isn't too whipped by his girlfriend, you could invite him along."

Duke was confused at first until he realized that she actually did mean Dwight like he'd thought when she said 'big blond friend' because he'd once told her Dwight was unavailable. She didn't know his unavailability wasn't related to a significant other but because he didn't hate Dwight, or just about any man, enough to sic Katie on him.

"Uh huh."

"So...?"

"I'll get back to you after I check my appointment book."

He decided the phone didn't properly transmit his sarcasm when she replied, "see that you do."

"Goodbye, Katie."

"Later, Duke."

He shook his head for a good ten seconds before going back to crib assembly. As much as he'd like to simply laugh off her offer, he couldn't help but think about money. That old joke about being sent a boat and a helicopter floated through his mind. Money was a concern considering he wanted to do something about their living arrangements before the baby was mobile, and he'd already been offered two opportunities to add to his savings account. He couldn't really afford to turn them both down.

Duke glanced at his sleeping girlfriend. She said she'd be fine if he left for a few days, and the doctor had said it was okay for her to use the bathroom alone, so it wasn't like he needed to carry her in. Surely he could bribe his staff to come up with food...

It was just the thought of leaving her behind that depressed him.

* * *

Audrey looked around. Duke had woken her up, trying to be quiet and failing miserably. The small apartment resounded with rustling paper as he looked over the paperwork for his various businesses. She looked up blearily, to see him at the kitchen table wrestling with paperwork. It was the second morning since she had gotten out of the hospital that he had done it. It seemed like while she was exhausted, he was filled with nervous energy.

It always amazed Audrey, ever since she found out she was pregnant, exactly how tired she was. Growing a baby with sucking all of her energy, and the accident hadn't helped any. It was stressful to know that she was confined without any hope of rescue the next few weeks. She was a prisoner in her own body, and her baby was the jailer. It hurt worse to know that she would not be able to back up Nathan on any of his cases. Instead she was stuck here with Duke, who couldn't seem to decide what to do with himself except for aggravate her. How anyone had wanted to be a stay at home mom eluded her.

Maybe that would change when the baby came and she met her little girl, but the idea of being Betty Crocker didn't appeal to the young woman. There had already been enough jokes about her boyfriend's last name and her inability to cook. Somebody ought to rename Duke that, and see if they had all their teeth at the end of the conversation. Though he was slow to reach his boiling point most times, the stress of the last week was telling on the man, and he was snappish and angry with everyone but her. To her, he was annoyingly saccharine.

The Chief had told her what he had done to trap Duke into going on the trip, and Audrey was grateful for it. It would keep Duke out of her hair and likely let him live long enough to see his daughter born. Maybe when he saw the little girl with ten fingers, ten toes, and a whole healthy mother, he'd calm down. She certainly hoped so, because she wasn't sure she could take any more of his rather masochistic He-Man behavior. And if he EVER referred to her again as his little woman to ANYONE, she would not be responsible for what happened.

The blonde woman growled in irritation silently as the object of her ire got up from the table and managed to step on every creaking board in the place. This really was all his fault. She wouldn't have been stuck in bed if he hadn't ... She let the thought trail off, recognizing that blaming Duke for anything in this was stupid and counterproductive. What was she going to blame him for? Getting her pregnant? Getting kicked by the cow? Treating her in a way that was really setting her teeth on edge? Besides which, he'd be gone soon. Absence would make the heart grow fonder, she hoped.

She signed, and mentally groaned when she saw he knew she was awake. She rolled onto her back and counted the creaking as he came closer to her.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up." Duke perched lightly on the bed, trapping her with an arm as he bent down to kiss her chastely on the forehead.

Audrey irritably pushed him away. "No, you aren't, because if you were, you wouldn't have done it again today after you did it yesterday."

"No, I am. I thought that..."

"No Duke, you just failed to think. Again."

Duke withdrew, getting up. "Since you're up, do you want anything?"

Several responses flitted through Audrey's mind, none of which he would take well. "No. Wait, yes. You to fix the floor so it doesn't creak."

"Audrey, the floor creaks. It's an old building. There isn't much I can do about it right now without us moving out for a while." Duke looked down, rocking back and forth, making the damned floorboard creak over and over and over again.

"Stop that."

The creaking stopped. "Sorry, I..."

"Enough, Duke. You succeeded in getting us both up at this ungodly early hour. Rest on your laurels, will you?" Audrey pushed her hair out of her face, well and truly irritated now.

Duke nodded, then retreated back to the kitchen table. The coffee pot on the counter gurgled, and Audrey stifled a reaction to whip a shoe at it, then its mate at Duke's head. She heaved herself up out of the bed and waddled to the bathroom. The pregnancy walk was so undignified.

She completed her business in the bathroom, and re-entered what amounted to the bedroom space in the large studio apartment. She began removing her nightclothes, and watched Duke covertly out of the corner of her eye. When most of her skin was bare, he turned away from her, raising a hand to shield himself from looking at her and focusing all the more intently on the papers in front of him. Audrey felt like crying.

She was fat and bloated and beyond her boyfriend's ability to cope with. Where was her dashing pirate captain now? Staring at an invoice or a bill. He wouldn't even look at her. She remembered the kiss she'd given him to distract him in order to steal his wallet at the fair. He'd been shocked and surprised at the kiss, like he hadn't expected to respond to his manatee sized girlfriend. God she felt like she would never be anyone's "little" woman again.

She had thought it funny, at first, when Duke had broken off intimacy with her for fear he'd harm the baby, but then she noticed other things. He was being so over-solicitous, so zealous in trying to take care of her every need. It reminded her of Audrey II's foster parents that were feeling "guilty" right before they returned you to the system because it wasn't working out. Nathan inadvertently confirmed her suspicious when he mentioned he had caught Duke's eyes roving over the new department psychologist. It had made her dislike the woman, initially.

Maybe Duke expected her to be June Cleaver or Carol Brady. It wasn't going to happen. She knew it and she thought he did by now as well, but that didn't seem to stop him from trying to force her to conform to the housewife model. She wasn't going to give up a job and a life she loved to keep house for the man. Not that it looked like he wanted her for that position anymore, given he wouldn't even look at her. There was a time when all she had to do was lean down with a low cut shirt and she had his complete attention. Now, even with her breasts bigger than they had ever been in her life, he'd never glanced.

Maybe absence would make his heart grow fonder, too, because even though he was driving her crazy with wanting to do everything for her, she couldn't help but believe she was losing him. She tried to shelve the thought. Duke had never been anything but caring and considerate. And she had just bit off his head about waking her up and the floor creaking. Claire would advise her to take an objective view, treat the relationship like a crime scene. Gather evidence and process it.

She finished dressing and settled down on the bed, watching Duke, who continued to hide behind his hand. There were more lines on his face then there had been days ago, and instead of looking like a carefree spirit he looked like he was in a constant battle. Seeming to sense her scrutiny, he glanced up, opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. The lines of his shoulders pulled tighter and he absently used his free hand to rub the side of his neck while he continued to make notes about something.

The last time he looked this haggard was when he got back from burying his wife. A wife that died so that his trouble could be activated, and he could be turned into a mass murderer to end the troubles now and forever. And here he was, with his girlfriend, whose main goal was to help the troubled, who feared and hated the man she'd come to love. She knew he still feared the tattooed man, still watched for him, and had even grown more zealous over it with time, presumably because the man could now threaten her and their baby. A baby he believed who, if a girl, could steal her soul away much as his other child stole his youth.

Duke wasn't going to leave her, she realized with iron certainty. He was reacting because he was afraid she was going to leave him. When she thought about how he must have been feeling, she was amazed that he didn't demand her to be hooked up to 24 monitoring and life-support. She took a deep breath, and caught his fleeting glance before he returned to his paperwork. Looking at it in the light of day, or rather false dawn because it was so early, she drove back her fears forcibly that he viewed her as a burden, as a duty. Duke wasn't trying to drive her nuts, he was trying to keep himself sane.

Involuntarily Audrey groaned as she got up, the bruises causing her to move stiffly and like an old lady. Tottering out to the kitchen table, she sat down. Duke made an aborted attempt at glaring at her for being up, then stared holes into his paperwork. She reached out and tapped him. "You know, I know the reason you turned that job down was because of me. But I'd be okay if you took it. You wouldn't need to worry about me if you left. I'm going to stay in bed like I'm supposed to, and the baby won't be born until a couple of weeks after you get back," she said, hoping to sound logical rather than pushy.

"And if something goes wrong while I'm gone?"

"Nothing will go wrong," she insisted. "I will do everything I'm supposed to in order to make sure of that." Her hand when to her belly; it was a promise she was making to herself and the baby too, not just him.

"And if something goes wrong anyway?"

"In the unlikely event that something goes wrong I've got Nathan, Dwight, Stan, Vince, and Dave to help me. And I don't know if you know this, but we've got ambulance service right here in this little town," she hoped that the joke would amuse him.

Duke carefully laid his pen down on the table. "I'm aware of that. But none of them live with you," he said, completely ignoring her quip and entirely focused on the people she'd mentioned instead. His voice was studiously neutral, and she knew without a doubt she had succeeded in pissing him off.

"I'm sure Nathan will be here, with cavalry in tow, if I need him." It was the wrong thing to say as she saw his mouth compress into a thin line.

He pushed away from the table, gathering up the bills and orders that had spread out like spilled milk before him. "Just tell me what you want me to do, Audrey."

"Look, I think it would just be good if you and I spent a bit more time apart. I mean, it's not like we always need to be on top of each other. Why don't you go down stairs and do a shift at the Gull or something. I can't think straight with you here all the time. I'll be fine, really I will." His eyes went blank with the last sentence.

"Fine." He retreated to what had become "his" side of the bed and picked up the clothes he left on the floor from the night before.

He made sure not to step on any of the creaking floorboards when he left.

* * *

_a/n: Faerax, do you hear crickets chirping too? I swear it's quiet enough to lately… be sure to feedback your authors on the way out, folks._


	13. Storm Warning

The Next Day

The chief took a moment to pause and watch the lightning over the bay. The storm was too far out to sea to do more than ruffle a few leaves and bring a cool wind to the shore, but out at sea the lightning flashed will all the intensity of one of Nathan's and Duke's arguments. Or one of his and Simon's.

A breeze blew sand into his eyes and for a moment, the more whimsical and seldom allowed to evidence aspect of his nature claimed it was Simon, seeking a weak revenge. Nathan had told him about the other "ghosts" that both he and Duke had seen, and what they had threatened. Maybe once he could have tried to actively thwart Duke's plans, but that was before the former chief realized that the son wasn't the father. Neither son was their father. Garland was thankful for that. He wouldn't have been so proud to have raised Max Hanson's son otherwise. There was a lot to say about both nature and nurture in both Duke and Nathan.

He could see Duke ostensibly tending bar behind the glass doors of the Gull. Audrey had temporarily banned him from the apartment upstairs, and by all accounts the two of them were driving each other crazy, and not in a good way. Audrey couldn't get up and didn't take to being cared for well. Duke, in turn, had gone overboard and seemed to fear that if he wasn't present, Audrey would die, disappear, or do something stupid. Garland figured if the two of them didn't get away from each other Duke would drive Audrey to at least disappear or do something stupid.

Which brought him right back to Simon because how on earth had a man that had all the loyalty of snake and the parenting instinct of a sea turtle raise a man that could be as stubborn as a barnacle about staying with Audrey? The boy shouldn't know ethics, shouldn't know loyalty. Should be the son of a bitch drunk his father turned into. And yet, Duke stubbornly clung to a type of chivalry and ethics, albeit a twisted form. The kid had read too much. That was the only explanation. Either that or he thought he was Long John Silver. Might explain why he could be so protective of kids.

Garland grasped the handle, pulling the door open, which rang the bell. The bar was relatively quiet, it wasn't really lunch anymore and was too early for dinner. A few of the local ne'er-do-wells were clustered together at a back table. Seeing the former chief walk into the room, the hunched down lower, making their voices quieter. Couldn't have been too illegal, then, because they would have just left. The old man had to hand it to the scoundrel behind the bar, he'd somehow made the Gull a neutral territory between the criminal element and the police. Just goes to show that good booze is the great equalizer, Garland thought.

Duke stood behind the bar, a blank poker face hiding his thoughts as he cleaned glasses. Garland knew that the blank look was generally trouble in one form or another. When he saw the flicker of annoyance cross the young man's face he knew that Duke knew that something was up. This wasn't the first time that Garland had been in the Gull, but it was the first when he'd come to seek the owner out deliberately.

The older man met the dark haired smuggler's gaze unflinchingly. "You are driving my step-daughter crazy," Garland announced, walking up to the bar.

Duke thunked the glass down harder than required. "The feeling's mutual, and she's not your daughter."

"Audrey's Nathan's sister. That makes her my family, too, or near as. I want her to be happy." The former chief leaned up on the bar, still staring at Duke.

Duke looked away, briefly. "So do I," he replied, letting the daughter comment go unchallenged.

"Let me give you some advice, son. You can't keep her in a padded room filled with bubble-wrap."

The restaurant owner looked at the old man and blinked. "Ah, no. She'd die of suffocation if she didn't get Nathan to let her out so she could kill me."

Garland shook his head. Duke always took thing literally when he didn't want to take them at all. "You know what I mean."

A flinty-eyed stare was the only thing he got in return.

"You have some business you need to see to. You have to ship some merchandise." In for a penny, in for a pound, the old man thought.

Duke's look went from anger to skepticism. "And exactly what do I have to ship? I don't recall having any deliveries to make."

Garland looked down and ruffled his hand through his hair. He looked up. "I accepted a job for you."

"Oh, no. Hell no. Tell me you didn't." Duke looked away and turned his back on the bar, and the man sitting at it, shaking his head in denial.

"Can't. I did and it's done. You have to get that ship of yours to Portland to pick up your cargo." Garland watched the young man in front of him.

"Shit!" Duke started pacing behind the bar. "How the hell? When did…? Dammit!" He considered sputtering for several moments. Seeing the bar owner's agitation, the rest of the scattered patrons elected to find other places to be. Duke did have a reputation for the occasional violent outburst.

Garland watched, a bit in pity, and a bit in satisfaction. Maybe the boy now understood exactly what he had put the rest of them through so many times. "You're reputation rides on this, Duke." Garland couldn't resist adding a few extra ounces of fuel to the fire.

Duke stopped pacing and looked at the former chief like a deer stunned with headlights. "I know," he hissed. "I'll have to call in some favors."

The pity drowned out the satisfaction. He didn't want to do this but he didn't feared that some ill would befall Audrey. It was part of Duke's limited code of ethics. A deal had been made in his name, and therefore he was honor bound to uphold it. As it was with his company, though, rather than him directly, it gave him a little more lee-way, so Dwight and Garland had had to make some arrangements.

"Don't bother. John Bartlet is having engine trouble, Kevin Summers just had to fix the hole in 'Dark Horse,' and Joe Halahan just left for 3 weeks go down to Florida." The three men were the ones Duke was likely to trust most with standing in for him.

Rage glistened in the young man's eyes. "You bastard."

Garland drew on years of dealing with Simon Crocker, letting the son's wrath wash over him. "It's for your own good. And Audrey's. You'll be back long before she's due. Right now she needs to feel independent, something she can't do with you breathing down her neck all the time."

"That's not up to you, or Nathan. That's it, isn't it. He put you up to this?" Duke was practically panting in rage.

Garland tried to remain calm. "No. In fact, he turned down the request to get you out of town." Garland was very careful not to mention the original idea had come from Audrey. The boy would be devastated. "Dwight and I thought it best..."

Duke cut him off. "Well I don't! I have a business to run here. I can't go gallivanting off. Audrey's hurt and she needs someone to watch out for her, and if this is your solution, it sucks."

Taking a deep breath, the old man tried again. "Listen to me, Duke. You know how expensive raising a kid is? It's not cheap. You going to keep living here and watch her fall over the railing one day when she runs pell-mell around the balcony? This place isn't exactly kid friendly. I sure as hell will not let you keep the shotgun under the bar with a little kid running around. You know this job is a milk-run and will pay well. Enough maybe for a down payment on a home."

"I know that." Duke's voice was quiet. "But I can't leave her." For a brief moment he looked lost and torn.

"She's not a china doll. She'll be fine." Garland relaxed a little, and then without thinking, added. "Besides, Nathan will be here to watch out for her."

"Is that what this is about? Nathan?" The brief moment of calm was over and hurricane Duke was back in full force. "You think I can't care for her? I can. I have."

Garland held up a hand. "Now wait. No one said you can't care for her. That you wouldn't or haven't. But there's more at stake than just her and you. You need a break from each other." Seeing the other man about to object again he quickly went on. "Nathan's mother and I separated for two months just after he turned two. We'd lost a baby, and neither of us took it well. We both blamed each other. It took us a while to sort things out. When we did, we were stronger for it." He paused. "Nathan never knew. His mother told him I'd just gone away for work, and he was way too young to wonder what might have taken a town cop away on business." Looking up at Duke's face, he saw surprise and startlement on the features.

"I know this is bad. It might get worse, though I hope it won't. If it does, the two of you need each other to get through it. She can't get away, and she needs the illusion that she's fully capable. You can go. This works out for both of you. Now I suggest you start planning. You have a week at sea to prepare for."

"A week?"

"Ten days at the outset. The sooner you go, the sooner you get back, right?"

Duke nodded, defeated. _Now comes the really hard part_, Garland thought. Duke was never the most stable individual when Audrey was involved. Dwight and the former chief had discussed it, and how Duke had almost gotten himself killed chasing after Audrey. The boy might rethink this out at sea. Or find someone to honor the contract. Nathan needed Dwight to help him keep the town under control. God help him, that meant Garland was going to be stuck babysitting Duke.

* * *

Duke's heavy footfalls on the stairs alerted Audrey that Garland has probably spoken to him about the trip. He certainly doesn't sound happy. She cringed a little, wondering if Garland has thrown her under the metaphorical bus; he was going to be a lot more difficult to deal with if he realized that it was largely her fault.

The door swung open, and he stomped in wearing a dark scowl. When he noticed her looking up at him with trepidation, he frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't wrong about the source of his ire - neither of them was equipped to handle yet another crisis just then.

Duke dropped heavily into his chair before looking up at her. "The universe is out to get me," he said, as if that was a cogent answer.

"How so?" Audrey asked, concerned. He had too many ideas about the nature of the universe that she found alien not to be genuinely worried.

He heaved a sigh. "Apparently I put too much energy into worrying about money because two money-making opportunities sent themselves my way."

Her look of surprised was half real... mostly because she had no idea what one of them was. "What are they?" she eventually asked.

"First Katie McCready called me wanting to do who knows what." When he noticed her dismayed look, he waved a dismissive hand. "I didn't let her explain. I don't owe her anything right now."

_Not like when she played a small but vital role in helping Duke and Dwight find me_, she thought grudgingly. There was no love lost between the two blondes and it still grated on Audrey that she ever had cause for gratitude where Katie was concerned.

"And the other one," Duke gave a brittle laugh. "I don't even know where to begin."

"At the beginning?" she suggested tentatively.

"Right," he said with a sour look. "I told you a little about all the supplies needed to repair tall ships. And I'm pretty sure you heard me call and decline their offer." She nodded. It was impossible to make a secret phone call within the small apartment. "So imagine my surprise when I was thanked for reconsidering."

"But..."

Duke bared his teeth in a ferocious smile. "If you ever wondered if Nathan's self-righteous streak is nature or nurture, it's nurture without a doubt."

"What does Garland-"

"The son of a bitch accepted the job on my behalf!" Duke exclaimed. "He signed me up for a ten day long trip knowing that I could sink my business if I backed out. He's got a steel pair on him, that's for damn sure."

"Are you sure?" Audrey asked, hoping to sound doubtful. When he gave her an odd look, she realized what her question sounded like she was asking and blushed. "I meant are you sure he's the one who gave 'your' word that you'd do it?"

Duke nodded. "He straight out told me he did it."

Audrey blinked, and this time her surprise was truly unfeigned. It never in a million years would've occurred to her that Garland would've been up front about it. She had assumed that he would pretend that he knew nothing about it, and let Duke just suspect it was him. Leaning on one elbow, she asked, "why?"

His eyes darkened. "You."

"Me?" Audrey asked. "How so?" She prayed that Garland hadn't said anything about her complaining.

"He's got it into his head that you and I are bound to drive each other insane if I stay. Maybe literally. That's ridiculous." He looked down at her. "Isn't it?" he asked sharply.

She squirmed under his stare. "Duke…"

Unfortunately, he reacted just the way she hoped he wouldn't. "So it's true. I am driving you crazy."

Audrey sighed. "You already knew that," she said not bothering to hide her frustration. He was already upset at her, so there was no sense denying the truth.

"You know, it's funny. I was afraid to leave you, but I guess it really is okay with you."

"If it's a good opportunity-" she started to say.

"I don't know why I was worried. You'll just have Nathan over here to play nursemaid. Or maybe Garland. Hell, maybe the Teagues." As he spoke, she noticed heretic red patches on his cheeks which betrayed his upset more than his voice did.

"I won't," she insisted stubbornly. He narrowed his eyes at her, obviously doubting that she was speaking the truth. This made her more angry at him than anything else in the conversation. "I said I could call on them if I needed help, but I won't. And I don't need a nursemaid. I don't want a nursemaid. I don't want _anyone_ hovering over me like I'm at death's door."

He glared at her. "So you honestly expect me to believe that you'd kick your brother out if he got to be too annoying?"

"I've kicked him out before. Why would now be any different?" Audrey demanded to know.

She watched as he literally bit his tongue. Even though he didn't get as far as insinuating that things were different because she was currently hurt and helpless, it still bothered her that he was obviously thinking it. There wasn't anything else he'd have to stop himself from saying, at least not in response to her question.

"So you're going to play hermit while I'm gone?" he asked, a little less heatedly.

"Yeah," she retorted. "I'll stare at the walls, hoping someone will remember to bring me bread and water to shove though the mail slot a couple of time a day."

"We don't have a mail slot," he said churlishly.

"Dammit, Duke," she groaned, collapsing against the pillows. She'd soon come to regret that given how much of a struggle it was to sit up due to the still constant ache where the cow had kicked her. Once, when she'd dared hang around the hospital bathroom longer than it took to pee, she'd yanked up her hospital gown and stared at herself in the mirror. Her belly had been marked by a hoof-shaped bruise and looking at it had chilled her blood. The kick had been to a fortunate place, because a blow that hard could have cost her their daughter had it landed somewhere even more vulnerable. No wonder it still hurt.

He seemed to realize that she regretted her theatrics, because he helped her sit back up. That he'd do that even while pissed at her said something positive about his character, but she wasn't inclined to dwell on that then.

When she could look him in the eye again, she asked, "Can't you just be happy that I'm going to be okay on my own? You should be. If I was going to struggle to cope without you, that would be reason for being upset. But knowing that you can take the opportunity and not feel guilty still upsets you. I don't get that."

For almost half a minute he looked at her without saying anything. And when he did, she wished he hadn't. "You're the one who said they didn't want to be needed. Not me."

Audrey recoiled, remembering the conversation on an equally hot August night the year before. "Duke-"

Before she could say anything else, he stormed out of the apartment.

She looked at the door after it banged closed, and ignored the tears that she couldn't keep from shedding. Before their bewildering conversation it had seemed to her that Duke finding out that she'd put Garland up to it would be the worst possible outcome. But somehow she'd found a way to wound him even more deeply. And worse, she didn't know how to admit that she did need him without making him feel even worse about leaving.

"It's only a week," she muttered to herself. Even to her own ears that didn't sound very convincing.

* * *

Later

Duke was being quiet. It was never good when Duke was quiet. Even though he seemed to have cooled off by the time he returned, she didn't believe he was in the same zip code as happy. And him being quiet instead of yelling just meant he was brooding or plotting, neither promised good things for Audrey's immediate future. The TV was playing a re-run of Once Upon a Time, and the queen was planning something nasty as usual. Duke had been banished from the bedroom area of the apartment.

Refusing to leave her alone, he'd retreated to what amounted to the living room, out of Audrey's sight. It was an amazing talent, considering it was virtually impossible to be invisible in the place because the floor plan had no walls except the exterior ones. It meant that he was directly behind the pole.

"What are you doing?" Audrey called out.

She heard a snort, then a clunk. "Nothing. What do you need?"

"Just wondering what you were up to over there." She ran her hand over the quilt and felt the baby kick her.

A non-committal grunt was the response.

Audrey sighed. "What's on the menu for dinner tonight?"

"Call down and ask for whatever. They'll make it for you."

Definitely brooding. Great, one child on the way and now the child's father was acting like one too. Audrey reached for the phone, and decided it was moronic to call down stairs for food. She was about to suggest he cook something for her, like the shrimp she knew he had in the freezer when she heard Duke's cell phone ring.

"No. Because I said no, that's why. You are just jealous that she has them and you don't. No, you don't understand. I'm out. … Katie, I... Give me a minute to explain, damn it." She heard Duke's footsteps as he went to the door and then left, standing on the balcony. The evening wind whipped Duke's hair around his face, hiding it from her through the window. The conversation must have been about something he wasn't happy about, because he was talking with his free hand. Duke started pacing back and forth, each time he paced he brushed her silverware wind chime, setting it ringing.

The conversation went on for a good ten minutes. When Duke finally came back in he glanced over at her and asked, "Did you call down? I can go pick it up."

"Ah, no. I forgot. What was that about?" Audrey tried to catch Duke's gaze.

Duke shrugged and looked away. "Not really important. What do you want?"

There were several responses possible, the foremost being to know why was Katie calling but Audrey realized that he was talking about what she wanted for dinner. "You could cook the shrimp in the freezer," she suggested.

There was a wan grin. "No thanks. I don't have anything to cook them with up here."

Audrey laughed. "Really, I was under the impression that we had enough food to feed the entire PD for a few days."

Duke reached up and rubbed his neck. "Nah, just for a day or two. And I don't have the right seasonings for the shrimp, and I didn't get anything out to defrost."

"You could get something from the Gull's kitchens," she suggested.

Duke blinked at her. "You have a bad case of baby brain today, Audrey. Our daughter will be a genius because she's stole so many of your neurons. I've already told you that we could get something from the Gull sent up."

Audrey pushed herself up into a more upright position. "No," she said, irritated. "I meant you could get some fresh food from the gull and cook it for us." The baby made her feel like a bloated whale, and with the bed rest she now felt like a beached one.

"Nah, I can't be stealing food from myself. It would set a bad precedent for the kid." Duke grinned at her, then swept out the door and she heard him tripping down the stairs.

Left alone with her thoughts she wondered briefly if this was a good idea. Duke obviously wasn't happy with going on the trip, and now he was barely speaking to her. Audrey wondered if he knew how much she'd been involved in the ruse. If he did, he might never forgive her. As it was, she could feel the relationship fracturing under the stress.

Duke loved her, of that she had no doubt, but she was beginning to realize that he didn't really know how to be the doting boyfriend without going over the top. He didn't do stress well, either. He wasn't eating again and wasn't sleeping well. They hadn't shared the bed since she was released from the hospital because he feared hurting her in his sleep, and neither slept well apart from each other anymore. Funny how it was hard to sleep alone now.

She remembered Jess telling her about finding Duke and bringing him to the Cape Rouge, after he collapsed at the hospital. Garland would see that Duke would be OK, and that the scene would not repeat itself. It was scary to know the lengths the man could and had pushed himself because he was worried about her. And his worry was infectious. Him being upset made her upset, and she wasn't sure she could cope with her own fears, nevermind his.

The baby was soon going to be a reality. A little girl. The responsibility was daunting. Duke and her were actually going to be responsible for ensuring the safety of another life. Someone that she would be responsible for for the next 18 years. Her mother and her grandmother couldn't do it, but they hadn't had Duke or Nathan. Ok, so Duke was nearly having a mental breakdown over the child being born, but she had every faith in the man that he would get over it once he saw that both the baby and she were fine.

There was so much left to do in Haven, so many people left to help. How could she help them and provide for her little girl? And what if she had to choose? Which way would she go? She wasn't sure she could trust herself to make the right decisions if the time came when both the Troubled needed her and her daughter did. Add in the fact that both her mother and grandmother had seemed to have mental health issues, and she wondered what kind of legacy she would leave to her little girl.

This was why she couldn't have Duke constantly around anymore. It was too hard to fight his fears and hers both. She loved him, but she needed to focus on herself and her baby. It was the only way she could get through this.

The sound of heavy boots drove the thoughts from her mind. Duke juggled a tray while he manipulated the door knob. The wood had swollen again, and it was sticking. Eventually he braced himself and knocked into it, loosening it from the jamb. He stalked over to her nightstand and left the tray there, then kicked off his boots in the corner. "I thought you might like the Pasta Alfredo tonight," he said quietly, retreating to the other side of the loft.

She should call him back, ask him to eat with her, but she realized she didn't want to. They would just end up getting irritated or angry with each other. He was right, though, she realized. It was particularly good, and the sauce wouldn't give her indigestion like all red sauces had in the last three months. It amused her to know that even when he wasn't speaking with her, he still was thoughtful about what she needed.

She ate her dinner alone, listening to the TV. Duke had once again disappeared behind the pole. The next two hours passed in silence except for the sound of the TV. It was a lonely way to live with someone that either you weren't talking to or who wasn't talking to you. In consideration to the fact that Audrey pretended to be a morning person, Duke had turned off all the lights and turned off the TV at 11:30, after the news. Then he settled himself down on the couch and pulled the afghan over himself.

Audrey stared into the night, listening to the waves. "I want you go be happy on this trip, Duke. I want you to have fun. You need the break."

She could see the reflection of the light on the white of his eye. "I need the break or you do?" The tone was soft, quiet, and somewhat defeated.

"I need the break too. I'm just not used to all of this. I mean, I'm used to being alone most of the time, or with Nathan doing my job. I'm not cut out for this," Audrey attempted to roll over to get a better view of Duke, but failed.

"Yeah, I bet you would prefer Nathan here, helping you out," he said, the bitterness was clear and undisguised.

Audrey sighed. Some things would never, ever change. "He's my brother. I expect him to help out once in a while. There's no reason for you to try to run the Gull and be here with me 24 seven. I mean, what's the use of having family if I can't abuse them once in a while for things like this?"

"Funny, I thought you, me, and the lump made our own family. Guess I didn't get the memo."

Audrey grinned wryly. "Family are the people that when you go home, have to take you in, or so I've heard. I remember being an orphan, and I remember being in a home with people who took care of me. But this is the first place I can say I had a family. Just because you are the dad, Duke, doesn't mean that you are stuck constantly caring for me and our child."

This was clearly the exact wrong thing to say because the reflection of light on Duke's eye vanished as he closed it and rolled to face the back of the couch. "Fine. I got it. Give you space. Check. You'll get a couple hundred miles of space shortly."

Audrey reached out one arm toward Duke. "Don't be like that. I just want to see you happy again. You are killing yourself over nothing. I'll be fine. The baby will be fine. You just need to clear your head."

"My head is clear enough, Audrey. I get it. Now that I've been the stud to continue your family line, you can rest assured the die's been cast for the next case of the Troubles in 27 years. Maybe you're right and you'll be fine when she's born. You and our kid will be helping the troubled people then with Nathan and whatever kids he and Jess have. It can be a regular Scooby-Doo episode. Garland can play the part of Scrappy-Doo, if he's still alive then."

Audrey stared at the darkness shrouded form. "Duke Crocker, of all the dumb things I've heard you say that has to be the dumbest. If you think for one moment that I am having this child just to ensure that the Troubled have a version of me, you have another think coming, and it better get here soon. I'm not some damn broodmare. I certainly didn't plan this pregnancy, and I don't know that I would have ever chosen to get pregnant. Congratulations, you have super sperm that managed to get past my birth control pills."

There was a muffled snort, then "What can I say, I'm talented."

"Yes, you are talented at pissing me off!" Audrey could actually feel herself shaking with anger. How DARE he insinuate such things. "You know, when I found out I was pregnant, I was happy it happened. I don't understand why you can't just be happy about it too. You didn't want a daughter. Sorry, but you are having one whether you like it or not. You don't like that I want to involve Nathan and Garland in my life? Sorry, but they are my family. They get a free pass."

"I don't like that you don't want me here now and would rather have Nathan here!" A padded thump indicated Duke had punched the couch.

Audrey ground her teeth. "If I want Nathan here it's only because I don't want you getting sick," she said through clenched teeth. "You are pushing yourself too hard with all of this."

"And you are trying to push me out."

"Am Not!"

"Are Too!"

"Am NOT!"

"Are too!"

Audrey was about to reply with another vehement Am Not when she realized exactly where the discussion had taken them. This could go on all night. "Look Duke, I love you, even though right now I want to injure you severely so you can see bed rest from this side. I don't want to be a single mom because Daddy Dearest died of a heart attack fretting while I was pregnant."

"Really? Could have fooled me. I... Never mind." Whatever reply he planned he obviously thought better of than to say.

"Duke..." Audrey growled.

"Love you too, sweetheart." The saccharine words ended the argument, but failed to resolve anything between them.

* * *

In the morning Duke was gone. However, on the way to the bathroom, she noticed the small silver figures on the table in the far room. Two small replicas of sailing ships, and a light house had been left on the small coffee table. The ships appeared to be made out of some sort of sheet metal, perhaps tin or the like. One had a figurehead of a woman holding a bird at its prow, and a pirate flag adorned the highest mast in the middle. Its nameplate declared it to be the Black Pearl. The other had a leaping deer poised to jump into the ocean, and three flags flying, one from each mast. The nameplate that gently held the ship labeled it the Golden Hind. The lighthouse had been set up on some books that had become semi-permanent residents of the table, to guard the tiny model ships from sailing into paperback cliffs.

Audrey quietly prayed that someone or something could act as a lighthouse for her and Duke as it certainly seemed possible their relationship was about to hit the rocks.

* * *

_a/n: Gotta say, it was fun to make a pointed reference to one of my favorite scenes from Untangling =) _

_And oh yeah, lots more Nathan coming up soon for those who've missed him the last couple of chapters. _


	14. Casting Off and A Broken Screen

The wind off the harbor carried the scent of the headland forest to Duke as he worked on the Cape Rouge. The sun was warm on his back, and a light sheen of sweat covered his skin. It was the perfect day weather-wise and he should have been happy being on deck, preparing for ten days at sea on a milk run that was going to pay him well. It should have been a dream come true, but it felt much more like a nightmare. Audrey shouldn't be left alone. He knew it, and he suspected she knew it. But she didn't want him with her. And that pretty much sucked all of the joy from the idea of this trip.

The last of the cargo would be loaded soon, some minor hardware that might be needed. The spars and short masts had been loaded already, and that morning several tons of canvas for sails had been brought aboard. There was enough rope to give any man to hang himself with stored in the holds as well. The study ship was riding low in the water under her burdens. Still, even with all the weight she'd kept even in the water, neither listing to port or to starboard. At least the boat was on an even keel, even if his girlfriend wasn't, he mused darkly. Then again Cape Rouge was in many ways superior. She got him out of trouble, not into it. Well, except for that one time when all of them were kidnapped, but that was hardly the ship's fault.

The sun was hanging low over the water, nearly ready to slip between the waves. The last cargo van was late, and the driver had called roughly two hours ago apologetic and lost. Duke gave the man directions, again, and estimated that he had about 1/2 a day to finish figuring out what he forgot, because there was always something that he figured out he needed three days out from shore. Generally he could make due.

Mentally he checked what he had for necessities and decided there was more than enough food, as well as general sundries he'd need, such as toilet paper. He was never, ever, going to make that particular mistake again. The navigation systems were in good working order, and if they failed, he had his charts. It wasn't like it was going to be hard to find Canada. Just keep going northeast and then turn west eventually. The engines were in good repair, and he had plenty of spare parts should something go wrong.

Duke still had the nagging feeling he was forgetting something, but he put it down to Audrey being on bed rest. He was getting paranoid in his old age. _She's just upset about all the restrictions on her_, he tried to reassure himself. Audrey was a woman of action. Being cooped up all day had to be hard on her. And his presence was a constant reminder that she wasn't at 100%. The thoughts had worn a trail through his brain, but he was no more successful believing them this time than he had been before. In the end he worried she really wanted her brother around more than her lover, and that sent a dagger to his heart.

The captain entered the galley, checking that everything was stowed away and fastened such that wouldn't come loose. He doubted there was much personal that would work loose and cause the ship to list, but better safe than sorry. Best yet not to have to clean up the mess. There would be enough mess to clean up once the baby came. Maybe he could arrange to be absent when diapers needed changing...assuming Audrey was still around to change her.

Satisfying himself that the galley was well prepared for the voyage, he wended his way through the rest of the living quarters, then eventually down into the holds themselves. Tugging and pushing on pallets he checked to ensure they were secure, unlikely to shift in any high seas. As he reversed his course he heard doors slamming on the pier. His missing cargo van had arrived.

The driver and another man in a baseball hat were making quick work of shifting the load out of the van. Duke watched them work for a moment before picking up the first of the boxes on the ground and hefting it up on to his shoulder to bring it to the last open hatch on the deck. He'd gotten a pallet set up with enough tie-downs to hold everything securely. Slowly and methodically he loaded the pallet from the van's expelled boxes. Finishing one, he secured it with the tie-downs, then using a small crane he'd set up for the purpose, he lifted the pallet up and gently lowered it into the hold. The down side was that unless he wanted to jump down into the hold himself he had to go the long way around to unhook it. At least nothing would come loose and attack him like the last time he'd gone on a several-day boat trip. Different boat, though.

Yelling over his shoulder that he'd be back in a few minutes, he quickly worked his way back down into the hold. Duke quickly disconnected the crane's line and used the pallet jack to maneuver the load into position. Bounding back up the stairs, he saw that the next pallet was already partially loaded. The van that had carried the cargo was gone.

"I signed for the load. Checked it when we were unloading it. Everything's accounted for." The familiar short sentences didn't disturb Duke as much as the sight of Garland Wournos carrying a box that looked like it weighed nearly as much as he did. Quickly he covered the distance between them and helped settle the box onto the pallet. Garland wiped his forehead with a sleeve.

"What are you doing here? Never mind. I don't want to know. Please just leave." Garland seemed to be heeding Duke's wishes, standing up from leaning heavily on the partially filled pallet. Duke motioned to the short staircase, waiting for the old man to proceed, then following him over the edge.

Duke angled back to take another box and without looking stomped back aboard, muttering about interfering non-father-in-laws. Slamming down the crate harder than he strictly needed to he nearly ran over the former chief of police, who was lugging another box to the pallet. "Really, I'm fine. You're fine. You can go do whatever you do when you aren't annoying me."

Garland looked up into his face. "Nope, can't do that."

With a sigh to buy him patience that was running out quickly he strode off the ship to pick up another box. "Why not?"

The shorter man caught up to him in a few strides. "Because."

Duke hauled up another box. He swore it was filled with cannonballs based on the weight. "Because why?" he asked, annoyed at the other man.

Garland paused, waiting for Duke to move so he could put down his box. "Because I have a bet going with the Teagues."

Duke stopped and faced Garland, leaning against the pallet, directly in his way. "You, Mr. Betting is a Frivolous Waste of Money, have a bet going with the Teagues?"

Garland inclined his head, motioning for Duke to move. Duke pretended not to notice. "Yeah. I do."

"A bet about what?" Duke stood firm refusing to move as Garland tried to shoulder him aside.

Garland made a move as if to step on Duke's foot, which finally got the young man to move so he could settle the crate. "A bet about fishing."

Together they walked off the deck, and each picked up the end of a long box. Carefully Duke backed down the stairs to the deck, slightly amazed that Garland didn't shove him down them. "A bet about what about fishing?"

Together the two men secured the tie-downs and got the pallet down into the hold. As they walked through the ship Garland explained. "Dave and Vince and I have a bit of a fishing contest going. You see, they think the biggest fish are the ones they can catch in the harbor. I think I can get a bigger one out at sea. Figured since you were heading out that way anyway I can hitch a ride with you and try to catch something."

Duke said nothing, considering the story from various angles. He knew he was being played, but just why was he being played? "Garland, you have your own fishing boat. You could take yourself out."

"Boat's in dry dock. Something's wrong with the engine. Gary's looking into it," Garland answered.

Duke put the pallet in place. "And so you think fishing off the Cape Rouge is somehow going to work?"

Garland nodded.

Making a disgusted noise Duke went back up to the deck. "Look, this was a commercial fishing vessel, not a sport fisher. She's made to trawl, not to have someone use a rod and reel. And it's not like we're going to coast around looking for fish. I'm going up to Charlottetown and coming back down."

"Won't be a burden. You won't even know I'm here."

"Exactly." Duke smiled. Audrey would have realized it was a fake one. "Because you won't be here when I leave at dawn." One more night to get through…he was tempted to sleep onboard, but figured that'd be even worse for his relationship than another night of him and Audrey barely speaking.

Together he and Garland packed and settled two more pallets, the silence settling around them not exactly comfortable, but not exactly tense either. Finally as they settled the last of the cargo, the Chief turned to look up at Duke. "I'll be here by 3AM."

Duke banged his head against the bulkhead. "No, you won't. You aren't coming with me."

"I'll share the proceeds of the bet with you." Garland looked hopeful. Actually, he looked rather like Gollum attempting to look sweet and innocent in the Lord of the Rings movies. It was disconcerting, at the very least.

"And that would be?" Duke inquired. He seriously doubted that there was anything that the Teagues had that would interest him, but a lifetime of avarice wasn't going to be overcome easily.

"Oh, you know. Bragging rights and" the rest was lost in a muttered, incomprehensible mumble.

Duke grinned at the old man. "Say again?"

"The losers have to dress up in prom gowns and sing at the Old Home Day." Garland tried manfully to hide his blush. "I'm down by 27 inches. I caught some sardine."

Duke considered the situation. Then he considered what Audrey would want. "Fine," he grumbled.

Duke wanted to continue his sulk, but the sea wouldn't let him. There was still something exciting about leaving port and setting out into the deeps. It had amazed him that mankind knew more about the surface of the moon than what rode the current beneath his father's boat. He had wanted to explore; to see it, to find out what hadn't yet been discovered. An echo of that dream still lifted in his heart each time he ventured beyond the sight of shore.

Down in his quarters he had a working astrolabe and nocturlabe, and it would surprise most to know that he could and had used them in the past. They weren't necessary with the GPS, but it was something his father had taught him. It startled him to realize he could teach his and Audrey's child how to use them, and how to read the stars. He wouldn't get the chance with Jean, but with this little one he would.

* * *

Dawn

Garland was on the dock and was casting off the heavy lines that bound the Cape Rouge to the dock. When he boarded that morning the smuggler had found the ex-Chief asleep on the dock in one of the beaten up lounge chairs with a duffle bag beside him. The old man had to work with only the spotlights, as dawn had still been a dream away at three. No matter how long it had been, a boat like that didn't want to waste time and fuel sailed with the tides. If it wasn't for the fact that Audrey would kill him, Duke would've been tempted to maneuver the railing away from the dock when Garland tried to re-board after hopping off to run to his truck for some forgotten thing a few minutes ago. The few moments of amusement wouldn't have been worth the fight later.

And if he was going to be stranded, it would be best to be stranded at sea in Duke's personal opinion. The scent of the salt sea spray cleared his head, as did the feel of the steady vibration beneath his feet. Out here it didn't matter what was going on in town. It didn't matter if he was Troubled, or if Nathan was, or if the entire damn town was. At sea he was only a man, one untouched by the concerns of land. There he was a captain and he was responsible for all the souls on board, or, he noted grimly, rather he would responsible for himself, and Audrey and Nathan would never let him hear the end of it if Garland died again. With that in mind he'd watched Garland board and then gently nudged the ship away from the dock.

The old girl daintily edged away from her home, then promenaded to the end of the harbor. The buoys clanged to warn the ships and their sailors of the dangers of leaving their snug berths. Duke watched both the prow and the radar, watching out for the sandbars that shifted below the waves. The old lady was heavy in the water, pregnant with her cargo, and would be more susceptible than she normally was to tripping over the shifting sea floor.

The demands of navigating the tricky waterways kept Duke's head clear of his other thoughts and concerns. For a few precious minutes the nagging voices that had been endlessly circling telling him that Audrey didn't need nor want him anymore, that no matter what he did or what he achieved, it would never be enough to satisfy her, were silent. He reveled in the peace of his own mind.

Once past the harbor mouth there was open water. The ship's engines hadn't been tested in a long time, and he wondered how fast he could push them. There was still too much traffic in the shipping lanes to try so close to Haven, but he could nudge the boat to a greater speed, if not her max. He kept watch for the other ships, looking at the earthbound constellations that were their running lights. Once out beyond the lanes the bigger boats used, and off the fishing grounds frequented by the coastal fleets, he nudged up the speed again and then set the autopilot on the ship. The sun was starting to rise, casting the sky in pearly hues of white and gold.

Duke left the pilot's house and walked out on the deck. Garland was leaning against the port rail, watching the water slide by. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Duke exit the wheelhouse, but didn't say anything. Duke nodded an acknowledgment of the other man's existence. He took in a deep breath of air, relishing the freedom he felt. He let the stillness and the motion fill him, and focused on a quote he always liked. "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill the Buddha. If you meet your father on the road, kill your father. Bound by nothing you are free from everything."

"That doesn't seem very Buddhist." Garland's voice roused Duke from his reflection.

Duke looked over with a crooked smile. "There are many paths to enlightenment."

"Including murder?' Garland continued to look out over the sea, watching the foam scurry across the brine.

"Nah. What it means is you have to make your own way. What's that guy..." Duke paused trying to dredge up a quote from a half remembered movie. "You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books; You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me: You shall listen to all sides, and filter them from yourself."

"Walt Whitman," Garland supplied.

Duke nodded. "As quoted by Joe Peschi playing a guy living in the basement at Harvard. Means basically the same thing. Figure it out for yourself and don't follow someone assuming that you'll get it."

Garland laughed. "Philosophy from Hollywood."

Duke ducked his head, not willing to admit that the first time he came across the other quote was an anime, but smiling at the thought that Garland would never believe him that it could be a valid philosophy. There were a lot of valuable lessons in Saiyuki. Well, maybe not, but it was fun to watch. Somehow Duke thought Garland wouldn't approve of learning religion from cartoons. Silence descended once more.

The boat chugged on for miles. Duke watched, amused as the old man tried to cast a line over the rail and repeatedly came up with nothing. He grumbled about there being no possible fish in the sea after his 10th unsuccessful cast. Garland watched for a while before returning to the pilot's house and realizing that he forgot to re-subscribe to the satellite service. It was always something that he forgot.

Overall it would be a nice day, at least until the night came and voices started up once more, preventing him from getting any rest, reminding him he had abandoned Audrey, and that he would never be good enough for her.

* * *

Haven

_They never show this on an episode of cops_, Nathan thought sourly as he looked at the stack of paperwork he'd spent all morning filling out. It should have left him with a sense of accomplishment considering how much he'd gotten done, but it had been dreadfully boring work.

A knock on his door had him looking up eagerly; at that point he would have even welcomed a visit from Dave and Vince coming to lie to him and/or pump him for information for a story. It wasn't the Teagues, though, but his dispatcher. "You busy, chief?" Laverne asked.

"Not especially," he said, dropping his pen on the stack of paperwork.

"Up for going out on a call?" She kept her tone casual, but what kind of call she meant was easy to guess. "Yourself, I mean."

"Figured. What about?"

Laverne closed his door. "Got a call reporting a possible break-in."

"And?" he asked carefully. Her reluctance to spell it out had him curious.

She shrugged. "Check under the beds and in closets," she recommended.

"Uh huh," he said thoughtfully. "Got an address for me?"

She held out a slip of paper. "Be careful, Nathan."

That's how he figured out how worried she was: she used his actual name instead of a pet one. "I will."

"See that you do," she said briskly before leaving his office.

Nathan watched her go, wondering what he was getting into.

* * *

The address on Murkland road brought Nathan to a medium-sized white two-story house. It seemed like whatever crisis had led the homeowner to call had calmed, and he hoped that was a good sign. Many people who broke into homes got spooked and ran off, and he sort of hoped this would be the case here. It was a nice house, probably belonged to a nice family who didn't deserve trouble.

He readied his badge and went to the front door. The door opened before he even raised his hand to knock. A confused looking blonde around his age muttered, "Thank God," before opening the door enough to let him in. As soon as he stepped into the living room she turned towards the stairs and called "Alex!"

Her husband, Nathan assumed, so he was rather surprised when a small boy responded to the call. The child skirted around Nathan and ran to his mother. She held out her arms, then picked him up.

Looking down at the boy, she spoke in a firm but still gentle tone. "Alex, this man is a police officer. We need to tell him what happened. Okay?"

He looked worried, but said, "Okay."

Nodding, the woman looked back at Nathan. "Amy Brandon," she offered.

"What happened, Ms. Brandon?" he asked when she didn't immediately begin to explain the problem. Any hugged he son before saying, "I thought Alex was just telling me stories because he's unhappy that Josh is away on a business trip, but I know he wasn't now. Mommy is so sorry for doubting you, Alex," she concluded, head ducked against the boy's.

"It's okay, Mommy."

Nathan was beginning to get frustrated by all the beating around the bush. The kid seemed smart and relatively calm, though, so maybe he could get something out of him. "School starts pretty soon. What grade are you going to be in, Alex?" he asked, adopting the friendly tone he saved for kids.

"Kindergarten."

"Wow. I bet you're five, then. Am I right?"

"Yeah. But I'm gonna be five and a half real soon, though."

Nathan tried not to notice the mother mouthing 'not until October.' As if accuracy with the kid's age was what he was aiming for. "So Alex, I think you're big enough to help me understand what happened-"

"I am," Alex interrupted. "You're supposta tell police the truth."

"Exactly," Nathan blandly agreed. "So who should start, you or mom?"

Alex looked up at his mother. "Mom."

"Okay. Mom?"

"Right." Amy Brandon said unhappily. She put the boy down and gestured towards a cluttered table that the three of them took seats at. Nathan sort of liked the fact that she didn't apologize for the mess. "Alex takes a nap after lunch still, which makes me glad that he's in the morning kindergarten class with Mrs. Wendle. Josh is hopeful he'll grow out of needing naps before morning and afternoon swap in January, but..." She stopped rambling when she noticed the look Nathan was giving her. "Anyway, Alex went down for his nap an hour ago, but soon came to get me, shaken."

"What was wrong?"

"There was a monster under my bed," Alex whispered.

"I don't know if it was a monster, but it was something," Ms. Brandon confirmed with a shiver.

"You saw it?" Nathan asked a little more sharply than he meant to.

"Briefly. It ran across his room and jumped out the window when it saw me."

"The window was open?" He didn't like that. Didn't she know the back story behind Clapton's 'Tears in Heaven,' and that Clapton's boy hadn't been much younger when he'd fallen out an open window? He shook his head slightly - clearly he'd been paying an unhealthy amount of attention when Audrey got bored one day and read aloud a baby-proofing article from a parenting magazine to annoy him after he objected to her moving boxes.

Amy Brandon frowned. "No. It crashed right through the screen."

Nathan blinked at her. "Can you show me?"

"I will. Stay here and color, Alex." She pushed a pad of paper and a box of crayons towards her son.

The boy looked a little scared to be left alone but reluctantly said, "Okay."

* * *

They were still making their way to Alex's room when Amy Brandon looked back at Nathan and offered him a weak smile. "I appreciate you acting like you take this seriously-"

"I'm not acting," he protested.

"-because I was afraid that as soon as I explained the problem, the responding officer would call for some nice men from The Freddy to come and pick me up for a three day psych hold."

"I've lived in New England my whole life," Nathan said with a shrug as they reached the boy's bedroom. "I've heard more stories about animals behaving in unusual ways around here than I can count."

Given the look on her face he expected her to ask 'but what if it's not an animal?' but she didn't. Instead she pushed open the door to her son's room.

Looking in, Nathan thought it was a pretty typical boy's bedroom. A bookcase against a wall was filled with picture books, an elaborate toy garage was flanked by a legion of matchbox cars, Lego projects and action figures were scattered across the surface of a child-sized table, and both twin beds were covered with Angry Birds bedding.

The fact that both beds seemed to be used interested him. Gesturing towards the beds, he asked, "Is Alex an only child?"

"What?" Ms. Brandon looked flustered. "No, he has a half-brother, Nicky, my husband's son from his first marriage. He spends a couple of weekends a month and summers with us."

"How old?"

"Seven."

Nathan didn't bother asking how far away Nicky lived - if it was a prank, it was too elaborate for a kid that young to pull it off.

"Josh and I met just after his divorce," Amy said defensively. Apparently she misinterpreted his lack of further comment as judgment.

Pulling out his flashlight, Nathan glanced at her and asked, "Where did Alex see...it before it went through the window screen?"

She sighed. "He told me it came out of his closet and then hid under his bed. Naturally I assumed we'd let him and Nicky watch **Monsters Inc.** too many times and it had convinced him that you really can have monsters under your bed. I was actually looking under his bed to show him that there was nothing there when I apparently startled, um, it."

"Hmmm." Nathan bent down and was reminded that while being tall had its definite advantages, it sure didn't help him look under child-sized furniture. An aching neck later, he was able to determine that there was nothing unexpected under either bed, just the detritus generated by small boys.

The closet was much the same, but it did seem as though something had shoved aside some of the neatly hung clothes to make room for itself.

"How big was it, do you suppose?" Nathan asked the woman who was anxiously watching him.

She held her hands a couple feet apart. "About this big."

"Right." He pushed clothes aside in the closet, looking for a hole in the walls or floor, and found none. Amy seemed to catch on to what he was up to when he asked, "Is it possible that the screen was already torn when you saw it go out the window?"

She hesitated for a moment, obviously trying to think of another way that the creature might have gotten in. "Maybe," Amy said doubtfully.

Nathan next turned his attention to the ragged screen. The hole was large, big enough for something the size Ms. Brandon suggested to fit through. "You're going to want to have this fixed today," he couldn't help but suggest. Alex was a sweet kid and he didn't want to come back because something had happened to him.

"I'll call someone," she promised.

A dark tuff caught in the remains of the screen caught his eye, so he plucked the dark for out and sealed it in a zip lock bag. Glancing up at her, he said, "I'm no expert but I'm guessing either bobcat or bear cub, neither of which you want in your house. Window bars too, maybe? At least for ground floor bedrooms."

"I'll suggest that to Josh," she said sounding miserable. Not a welcomed expense, obviously. Considering the state of the economy, it hardly surprised him anymore when people were reluctant to spend.

Shutting off the flashlight, he said, "If the lab figures anything out from this for, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, if you see it again, give the station a call and someone will send out animal control. Okay?"

"Okay."

She looked so blue he wished there was more he could do or say to comfort her. "It probably won't come back. Most animals get spooked after a confrontation with people."

If it was an animal, he found himself thinking. Not that he'd share the thought with her.

"Thanks for your help," Amy said when they rejoined Alex. When the child looked up from his drawing, she said, "Just a silly animal, Alex. Daddy and I will make sure it stays outside where it belongs."

"Good!"

Morbid curiosity gripped Nathan and he steeled himself before looking down at Alex's paper. He'd expected a drawing of whatever had terrorized the child during his nap, much as kids in horror movies were as inclined to draw as they were inclined to being creepy, but Alex's picture was monster-free. Instead it was of a sailboat riding some waves. Not even a shark fin in sight. Somehow it had him wondering if Audrey was going to cope with Duke being away nearly as well as she thought she would.

He shook his head slightly, banishing the thought. Looking at the little boy, he said, "Alex, if you see it out in the yard, let your mom or dad know okay?"

"Yup."

"Thanks again, office Wournos," the child's mother added.

"No problem." Nathan let himself out.

As he got in the Bronco he pulled the bag of fur out. It was probably a problem, he thought glumly.

Sighing, he shifted into gear, but stopped immediately when a trio of boys on skateboards barreled down the sidewalk that flanked the Brandons' house. He smiled and waved, but caught sight of an old man giving the kids a sour look. _Lord, let me never get so old I care about kids on my lawn_, Nathan thought as he drove away.

Jess wouldn't let him get away with that, he decided, and somehow he thought that any child of Duke's would give him plenty of chances to be patient with a kid who seemed born to cause mishaps and mayhem. He should probably ask Audrey if they had renters' insurance. It would have come in handy when her place had been trashed by the Carrs goons, and now with the baby coming... Nathan made a mental note to ask, and to look up his own name on the internet to see if there was a feminine form, since he was pretty sure that they weren't still going to use Eric as the baby's name.

Pretty sure.

* * *

_ a/n: A fairly quiet readership (except for those of you who know who you are, thanks!) lately is giving me a lot of time to think about that big Haven/Hart of Dixie/Primeval/X-Files crossover I can write._

_So, I'm thinking that Wade can't stand to wait for Zoe to get back from NY, so he drives up there to see her and give another shot at getting her to take him back. They then decide to vacation in Maine since neither of them are ready to head back south, bickering all the while and not exactly back together again._

_Meanwhile, Abby and Connor track an anomaly to just outside of Haven. It's released a mammoth, about the only prehistoric creature who is up for the cold in Maine. It's...winter? Oh, how about Christmas? It could be a Christmas story! Or it could be a woolly rhino. Those were a thing too._

_Mulder and Scully find out that William's adoptive parents have moved him to Haven, and they've just tragically died in a trouble-related accident, so they come up to find him._

_And um...Duke just wants to spend a day relaxing on his boat and not wearing any pants, but Audrey and Nathan keep making him put them back on to deal with the mammoth which of course they mistake for being spawned by someone's trouble, the bickering not-yet-back-together couple visiting from Alabama, two British science-y types who deal with tears in the space-time continuum on a regular basis, and a couple of very intense former FBI agents trying to figure out what troubles and anomalies are whilst bonding with their long lost son. _

_And it's Christmas, so maybe a yeti-like creature from the future follows the mammoth/rhino out of a tear…_


	15. Fur and Scrabbling Claws

When he'd gotten back to the station with the hunk of fur, Nathan hadn't been sure what to do with it. Under normal circumstances he'd call his father and ask him if he knew a lab with a reputation for discretion, but his father was off with Duke. That was still something that baffled him, even though his father had tried to articulate his reason for wanting to go. Nathan hadn't accused his father of lying, but he'd been certain that there was more to it than a sudden desire to see the Tall Ships.

He sat at his desk and poked the bag with one finger, sort of enjoying the fact that he could sort of feel it. Having come to have gotten some sensation whenever he touched anything no matter what it might be was nice. When he'd first lost his sense of touch as a little boy, there had been several times when difficulty with simple tasks like trying to dress himself or make breakfast with disastrous results had led to screaming tantrums. The Chief hadn't been the most easy-going father in the world, but he'd never punished Nathan for those outbursts. And he hadn't pitied him either, he'd just waited them out and helped Nathan once the tears and angry wailing quelled.

At least Dwight was around, Nathan decided. Picking up his phone, he dialed the cleaner. "Hey Dwight. You ever have to have fur DNA tested?"

Pretty much anyone else would have asked why, but Dwight merely said, "A few times. You need recommendations for where to have it done?"

"That would be helpful," Nathan admitted. "I wasn't sure what to do with this-"

"No problem," Dwight told him before rattling off an address in Derry. Nathan dutifully listened and wrote it down, but as he did he wondered what sort of people those people were. They had to be pretty open-minded, or at least not inclined to ask any questions, if they were willing to take on projects from Haven.

"Thanks," Nathan told him, capping his pen. "I appreciate this."

"Welcome."

Nathan waited a moment for Dwight to ask what the fur was from, but he didn't. There was a lot to be said for knowing when to keep your mouth shut. "See you around."

"Right."

Grabbing the sample off the desk, Nathan shoved the address in his pocket and headed out the door. With luck the lab would be able to tell him what sort of animal it was so he could get back to the Brandons with the information. Hopefully the family would be able to use a regular exterminator if it came to that...and not one who came highly recommended by Dwight.

* * *

Meanwhile

The great white north was colder than Duke's home port, but it was still nice out. So nice, in fact, the captain'd rigged up the hammock and was lazing in it on deck. One bare foot kept the hammock swinging gently as the Chief cast his line over railing. The old man glanced back over his shoulder, and noticed that the swaying of the hammock was slowing, and the suspended bed was moving more in line with the ship's sway. Duke had slowed the boat considerably in the morning, ostensibly so that Garland could fish. In truth, it appeared that Duke had upgraded the engines, a lot. The old girl had been pushed hard to get up to port, perhaps because Duke figured the faster up there, the faster back. He'd pushed the boat to give all she could, and Garland, who'd rarely seen the boat leave port since Duke had blown in, had been surprised at exactly how fast the old girl could hustle. Then he'd remembered that Duke was a more than passable mechanic when he wanted to be.

So now they were sitting roughly 25 miles out of Charlottetown out of sight of land, which might have been in sight had there not been a low visibility as the skies lowered. The weather was slowly becoming unsettled as the day went on. The way the Duke had kept checking to the west made Garland suspicious that there was some bad weather in the near future. The line hissed quietly as Garland drew it back, reeling it in. He maintained his position, there were no deep sea ocean fish. Somehow his dead fish were just coming back to life and swimming off the hook. Sighing the old man bent to the bait bucket and hooked another fish, then tossed the line again. He quickly lost sight of the shining lure in the depths.

The wind tousled his hair, which he swiped at irritably. He might have cursed it, except if Duke had finally fallen asleep, he didn't want to wake him. Dwight had warned him that Duke didn't react to stress well, foregoing sleep and food until he dropped. He'd been told about Duke collapsing at the hospital after going hypoglycemic. He had seen firsthand Duke's agitation the second day they had left port. While he had something to do, he was fine, irritable, but fine. But left alone to his own devices... The former chief of police raised his eyes and shrugged. It was best to keep Duke busy.

There was some kind of irony, deliberately setting out to be a pain in Duke's ass. It seemed like a perverse form of revenge, except that Duke was just a pain in the ass, he didn't need to plan it. It was like arguing with gravity, fruitless and a waste of time. The son had inherited all the father's stubbornness. And yet, he'd inherited his mother's sharp mind and cool head. And somewhere he had learned honor. And ethics. And morals.

Last night they two of them had had a loud argument about religion. Garland was tolerant of most things, but he wasn't completely in favor of Duke's plan to not raise the child to a faith. Garland saw absolutely nothing wrong with teaching kid about different religions, but he did think it necessary that there was a basic need to teach the kids about right and wrong, and the basis for right and wrong was found in the Bible. The old man knew that Duke had been baptized and had his first communion, but had parted ways with the church as soon as he was old enough to stop being forced to go.

Duke had nearly violently disagreed. They'd ended up yelling at each other, arguing about the definition of right and wrong. Somehow it hadn't surprised Garland to learn Duke was somewhat Machiavellian in his belief that the ends generally justified the means. What had surprised the old man more was to learn that Duke was redefining his views, shaping them to be more like Audrey's. Normally that wouldn't have worried the man, except Audrey did have more flexible morals than Duke did, at least in some regards.

Even though they hadn't come to an agreement on anything, even though Duke had stormed away to the wheelhouse, it had served to defuse some of the tension. It was enough so that when Duke had left the quiet confines of the captain's chair, he'd set up his hammock and settled down for what was hopefully to be a rather long nap. Might make him a bit nicer to be around too. He felt a tug on the line, and quickly reeled it in. It was a long snag of seaweed. The fish was gone, again. Another fish was loaded onto the hook. The line was cast again, but it snagged on the rigging with a loud thunk. Wincing, Garland looked back over his shoulder to see that Duke had remained motionless. A quiet snore could be heard over the waves.

Good, the old man thought. He's finally asleep. Garland continued to fish for another four hours, listening closely for any signs of the captain waking and wondering what the hell they were going to do if the ship went off course. There still wasn't any fish that had decided to commit suicide by hook. He wasn't looking forward to losing the bet. Garland carefully stowed the fishing gear, wandering over to check on Duke once, and then heading into the galley.

Duke had been cooking for himself, and had told Garland in no uncertain terms that since he had invited himself on this sojourn, he could also cook for himself. It was a damn good thing that the Chief had thought he would have to stow away and had packed accordingly. The duffel bag he'd brought with him the night he told Duke he was coming was currently sitting on the couch. He went over to it, then removed the bread, Jiff and Fluff that he'd brought with him.

Finding the toaster in the galley he set to toasting several slices of bread. He worked them between his hands, tossing them from side to side until they landed on a plate. He smeared the peanut butter on half of them, watching as it melted. Then he layered the fluff on the other half, clasping them together into a gooey mess. He'd just finished assembling the last one when he heard the door open with a thunk. Duke stumbled into the room, mistiming the sway of the boat. He grasped the door, then looked up to see the Chief. Garland twitched a smile.

"Made you some dinner. Thought you would be hungry." He motioned to Duke with a plate holding two of the toasted Fluffanutters.

Duke looked startled, then confused. "Uh, thanks." He took the offered plate then settled by the counter. Garland took the second one and sat down to face him. Duke ate the first one without seeming to pause to breathe, licking the bit of the runny peanut butter off the side of his hand. He took longer to finish the second sandwich, and Garland didn't have to worry about the young man choking to death. Duke had managed to finish devouring both of them in the time it took Garland to finish half of his. Seeing the half a sandwich being eyed with speculation, the officer sighed and slid the plate across the counter, where it quickly disappeared.

The two men eyed each other for a few moments. "Catch anything today?" Duke finally asked.

"Nope. Have to try again tomorrow." Garland collected the plates and then washed them.

Duke nodded. "Might want to try off the pier when we dock."

Garland sighed. "Don't see what the Teagues see in this."

"I think it's a good way to waste time. Let's them think up new and inventive cover stories for the troubles." Duke looked distant for a moment.

"Probably. Still, don't want to lose the bet."

"Still don't believe you took it in the first place."

Garland stared hard at Duke. "We all have our surprises."

"You are a bit big for a cracker jack box," the captain observed.

Garland grinned. "Yep."

"And I can see where Nathan gets his stellar communication skills." Duke sat back on the stool and rolled his eyes.

"Yep."

Duke laughed, then turned unexpectedly serious. "You ever consider that's why you two fought so much when he was growing up?"

Garland suddenly felt all of years weighing him down. "Nathan and me, well. It wasn't easy after his Mom died."

"Funny, Mom and I could talk after Dad died. It was only after she got remarried that we stopped talking," Duke returned.

Garland dried the dishes. "You ever talk to her now?"

Duke shook his head. "No."

"You should. She should know she's about to be a grandmother."

The smuggler's eyes darkened and rage filled them. "Her husband is Never going to get near my children. Since she never goes anywhere without him, I don't think I need to worry her with knowing she's got a grandkid she'll never see, or another one about to be born."

"You really don't like the man, do you?"

"That obvious? And here I was trying to hide the fact I don't like him." The heat had cooled a bit in his voice, but was still present, along with a very heavy layer of sarcasm.

Garland put up his hands in surrender. "Just trying to make small talk."

"Yeah, you really aren't good at it. Actually, you remind me of someone." Duke took on a thoughtful countenance that quickly fell into devilish. "Audrey."

Smiling, the older man leaned forward. "Audrey... I think that's a low blow. I am not that bad."

"You can't hear yourself, can you?"

"I can hear myself fine, I was dead, not deaf."

The smuggler paused. "What was it like? Being dead?"

Garland knew that sadness in Duke's eyes. He'd seen it in the mirror a few times, when confronted with harsh truths he hadn't wanted to know. The troubles seemed to have bread that look. "I would tell you if I could, but it's like time stopped for me when I fell apart. It resumed when I woke up on that boat." He reached out a hand and rested it on Duke's forearm awkwardly. "Audrey'll be OK. She's too tough not to be."

"I'm sure she's enjoying herself. Wasn't like she really needed me around. She's got Nathan." Duke drew back and made as if to get up. "I've got to see where we are." He got up and left to head back up to pilot's house.

"Duke, it's not easy on her, either, learning to depend on others. She's got two sets of memories in her head, and at least one of them says not to trust anyone. Even though she knows who she is now, it doesn't stop her from knowing what Audrey Parker knew."

Duke called back over his shoulder before disappearing out the door, "The genuine Audrey Parker fell in love with a man. Loved him enough to agree to marry him."

Quietly, knowing that Audrey wasn't the only commitment-phobe in the relationship, the Chief wondered out loud to an audience of only himself, "And have you asked her?"

* * *

TV got old fast, so Audrey spent a lot of her time napping. Or at least attempting to. Thoughts that she didn't really expect had begun to camp out in her mind, and it was hard to banish them. Anyone who knew her, or thought they knew her, probably figured that her restless thoughts were about Duke, or her baby, and a lot of them were. But there were other things she kept circling back to, too.

Parents, for example.

She got the impression that Duke had spoken to Nathan about her feelings about reconnecting with the couple who had raised her, because he had never asked her a single question about them when he'd learned that she'd gotten her entire set of authentic memories back as well as her ones of Haven. It didn't seem likely that he would have held his tongue without being asked to, though she was grateful about it either way. As for Duke, he almost never said anything about them either. Once, when she'd been excited to tell people about the baby, he'd given her a long look and quietly asked if there was anyone else she wanted to tell, anyone outside of town. After she'd shaken her head, he'd never brought it up again.

But part of her had wanted to tell them, and even thought that she should. There were few things that would have provided them with more contentment in regards to her than knowing that she was happily coupled and expecting their first grandchild.

She just couldn't bring herself to tell them. To do so would turn their lives upside down and hers as well. It could also be dangerous to drag them into her current life, and she would die inside if she repaid their kindness with loss of life or limb. And it was harder to admit, but a selfish part of her didn't want to share her new life with them either. Their involvement would simply complicate things that were already complicated enough.

Other thoughts, the less expected ones, swirled around Lucy.

When Duke told her what he'd remembered about the day of the Kid's murder and the events that had preceded it, he'd been afraid to tell her that Lucy had murdered Nathan's mother. She'd claimed that she felt no fond feeling for the woman because she hadn't known her. This hadn't changed, but now she felt like she could understand her to a degree...and it scared the crap out of her.

Audrey didn't know which was worse: knowing that her mother had been willing to kill others, even a child, for her sake, or that she could halfway imagine doing the same thing in the unfortunate position her mother's actions had landed herself in. How she'd get into similar straits was much more difficult to imagine than a willingness to commit any sin to keep her baby safe and alive.

A sudden knock at her door saved her from her imagination heading any further down that rabbit hole. "Come in!" Audrey called, hoping to hell it wasn't Claire coming to grill her more on her feelings. If anything in her expression suggested even half of what she'd been thinking of, she'd be in for hours of probing conversation.

Fortunately, it was Nathan. "How are you?" As he asked he paced a little.

"About the same," she told him, raising one hand and letting it drop back to the mattress. "Achy. Bored. Hoping Duke will still speak to me when he gets back."

The look he gave her suggested that he hoped she was just being melodramatic at that last part because he had difficulty imagining Duke ever being upset enough to manage giving someone the silent treatment. "Miss work yet?" Nathan asked, smiling a little.

"Not particularly," she admitted. "Why, should I? You get any great cases today?"

"Nope. I did half a ton of paperwork today." He finally sat down, and she wondered why he seemed so restless. Being cooped up doing paperwork would have left her and Duke both on edge, but Nathan didn't seem to need to move around as much to keep from fidgeting enough to make people want to hurt him.

"No calls at all?" she asked skeptically.

"Well, there was one."

"What was it?" she excitedly demanded to know, earning an expected grin.

"Not quite sure. Something got into a family's home, hid out in a closet, scared a little boy by going under his bed, then jumped out a window."

"It was in a kid's closet and under the bed? Sounds like the boogeyman."

"Whatever it was, it had fur. I sent some off to a lab and I expect to hear that it was some sort of animal."

"That would turn out to be kind of boring," Audrey told him, kneading the thin sheet that was covering her. Even in the summer, even with her belly twice as warm as usual, she still couldn't cope with trying to sleep without something covering her.

"I'm hoping for boring. The family was pretty shook up." He paused then asked, "Were you afraid of monsters under the bed when you were little? The Chief invented a monster spray for me when I was four or so."

"That's...unexpected. No, I wasn't afraid of monsters." Still, the idea of monsters under a bed made her shiver.

Nathan gave her a searching look before saying "But?"

Clearly the shiver hadn't gone unnoticed. Sighing, Audrey said, "Did you ever wonder why the other Audrey was in foster care?"

"Hmmm. Nope."

"Neglect."

"Sad, but I'm not sure what that has to do with monsters under the bed."

"When she was little, she heard monsters under the bed, scratching. Right before they took her away, she found out it wasn't monsters."

"What then?"

"Rats," Audrey said grimly.

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"Hear from her lately?"

"About a month ago," Audrey told him, squirming to sit up a bit more. "She's doing good."

"Got all her memories back?"

"Just about."

"Good." Then he surprised her by snapping his fingers. "I'll be right back."

"Okay..."

When Nathan returned she could see that he was holding something long and metallic, but couldn't quite work out what it was. At least not until he demonstrated by pushing a handle and making a claw on the end open.

"Nathan, you shouldn't have." Audrey resisted rolling her eyes when he knocked a couple of things over trying to pick them up.

"Duke asked me to get this for you," Nathan said, holding the grabber out to her. She took it and put it on the bed beside her. "I'm surprised he didn't give me a longer list of contraptions."

"I'm a little surprised too. Relieved, though." Or she was once she talked to earlier in the day. Even if he was still resentful that she hadn't been sorry enough to be parted from him to suit him, he'd seemed calmer than he had in a couple of weeks so she thought that her instinct that getting him away would let him de-stress a little had been on the mark. Looking up at Nathan, she asked, "You hear from Jess?"

"Yeah. Marie's doing as well as can be expected, but it's going to be a long road to recovery."

"At least she wasn't killed," Audrey blurted out, thinking too much of Haven's uncomfortably high body count.

"Right. They arraigned the driver, too, so that's something."

"I miss her," Audrey told him. "Can't imagine how you feel about it."

Nathan shrugged. "At least this time I know she's coming back."

It took her thoughts a moment to catch up to what he meant. The last time she'd gone to Canada without him, it had been a damn long time before she'd returned. Trying to smile, she said, "And even better, she'll be coming back because of you, not because she's worried about being troubled." He didn't say anything, but his smile reached his eyes.

They talked for a while longer before he stood up and gave her a hug. "Call me if you need anything." His expression became mildly concerned. "How are you being fe-"

Audrey pointed at the floor. "You're not the only one Duke left chores. His staff brings me meals, whether I'm interested in eating or not."

"You need to eat," he pointed out.

"The heat is killing my appetite," she whined, knowing that she could get away with that with him.

"Still."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep me in the loop about your monster case. I'm dying to know what kind of animal it is."

"Will do."

As soon as he left she turned the TV back on. She'd done enough thinking for the day, and was ready to be pacified by the mindlessness of reruns until something interesting came on during primetime.


	16. Innocent Blood Spilled

One-thirty a.m.

Drizzle obscured the red and white flashing lights a little as Nathan pulled into the Wolfes' driveway. Puddles from the heavier rain earlier in the night made up for it though, and glowed a lurid red on the ground.

Sighing, Nathan headed to the rear of the ambulance. Half an hour earlier, he'd still been in bed, not that he'd been sleeping particularly well lately. It had come as an unwelcomed wakeup call to be rousted by a ringing phone after one in the morning.

_Stop being a baby_, he scolded himself as he peered into the ambulance, _being dragged from an empty bed doesn't make for as bad a night as this family is having_. Two white-faced little boys stared out at him, at least when the paramedics fussing over them and their anxious father didn't block their line of sight.

Nathan would have liked to have talked to one of the paramedics about the kids' condition, but they were busy, so he had to settle for speaking to the father. Not that he had high expectations for getting accurate information from the man.

"Mr. Wolfe?" When the man finally looked at him, he asked, "Can I speak to you?"

After giving his sons an anguished look, he promised them, "I'll be right back," and then unhappily followed Nathan to the covered porch he'd decided to move to in order to get out of the rain and earshot both.

"What did the paramedics say?" Nathan asked quietly. He figured he'd get that question out of the way gives he was sure that was what Mr. Wolfe would talk about first anyway.

"They think at least three of Ben's fingers are broken, and that he'll need a few stitches. And Georgie, George junior really but that's what Beth and I call him..." George Wolfe lost his train of thought and stared out into the rain, in the direction of the ambulance for several seconds. "Georgie's going to need more stitches than Ben. A lot more."

Georgie must have been the older boy, Nathan decided. The one whose arms and belly were being wrapped in gauze a couple of minutes earlier. Some perverse part of him wanted to tell Mr. Wolfe that the injury to his son's belly could have been much worse, but he didn't think that the man would have found the story of how his younger sister had entered the world just hours before her mother's death very comforting. And really, it wasn't his story to tell, it was Audrey's. Telling him about being gut shot himself probably would have pushed the man entirely over the edge, so he held his tongue about that too.

"But they'll be okay."

George Wolfe shivered violently, and Nathan wondered if he would have had the presence of mind to grab a jacket if his potential children had been injured or if he'd be soaked to the bone too. He decided that it would be the latter unless Jess threw the jacket at him.

"Should be. I'm not sure how I'm going to tell Beth. Don't worry, I told her. Enjoy your trip, I told her. The boys and I will be fine..."

If Nathan had any tissues on him, he would have offered them up. "I need to know what happened too. Maybe telling your wife will be easier after you've told someone else." He didn't really think so, but who knew? "Please tell me as much as you can about what happened, with any details you can remember."

"Okay," George said shakily. "Ben has been going on and on about monsters under his bed for about four days. At first I thought it was because he wasn't coping well with Beth's business trip and needed more attention, but he insisted that the monsters were real." George gave him a grim look. "I told him that talking about monsters is unacceptable. He is seven, for God's sake. Monsters are a baby's fear. I figured that the only way to deal with it was to explain that there are no such things as monsters rather than humoring him like you would a child half his age."

"But there was something in his room," Nathan prompted.

The father's shoulders slumped. "So I found out tonight. When Ben came to me again earlier tonight, I lost my temper," he admitted, looking miserable. "I told him to go back to bed, and if I heard anything else about monsters, I'd spank him." He looked up at Nathan. "Beth and I don't spank, but I was so sick of hearing about monsters that I made the threat. Now I wish to God I hadn't..."

It was hard to blame him for losing his temper, Nathan thought. Especially when he had no reason on earth to believe that his younger boy was in danger from anything worse than his own overactive imagination. Still, though, Nathan couldn't afford to waste time listening to him wallow in guilt. "What happened after you sent him back to bed?"

"He kept hearing whatever it was, and since I'd scared him into believing he was going to get a spanking if he came to me again, so he turned to Georgie for help instead."

"What did your older son do? If you know." In the chaos it was easy to imagine that George hadn't gotten many details out of the boys.

"The best I can piece together, they went back to Ben's room and Georgie heard whatever it was immediately. Spankings in mind, they decided to look for it on their own. And when Ben reached under his bed, something bit him." George's eyes swam with guilty tears. "Bit him hard enough to break his fingers. I heard him scream, and by the time I got to his room Georgie had been hurt too trying to defend Ben from whatever sort of animal it was. All because I didn't believe Ben that there was anything there."

This left Nathan thinking about the rats that had once been under little other Audrey's bed, but he didn't imagine that they were dealing with rats. He made a mental note to follow up with the lab if they didn't get back to him by the end of the day, maybe pressure them into putting a rush on things.

The end of the day. This made him want to groan; as chief being out there then didn't mean that he might get to go home earlier in the afternoon. What if Jess really was a witch, he found himself wondering irreverently. He did seem all but cursed to have Haven need him while she was gone...

"Officer?" Nathan blinked, hoping he wouldn't ask to explain that he'd been thinking about his fiancée. "I think they're trying to get our attention," George told him, pointing at the ambulance. The paramedics were clearly ready to leave. "Can I go with them?" George begged.

"If your front door's unlocked." When George gave him a confused look, he explained, "If you don't want to be here while I look for the animal, I don't need you to be as long as I can get in."

"Oh. I'll check." George reached behind him and twisted the knob. It opened easily.

"Go on, then," Nathan said with a nod.

"Thanks." George ran back to the impatient paramedics and climbed into the back. The rig left less than a minute later, leaving Nathan alone in the yard.

* * *

He waited until the ambulance pulled out of the yard, but he couldn't put a search off any longer. From what Amy Brandon had said, the thing was incredibly fast, so he already doubted it was still inside the house. If it was, it wouldn't be in there for much longer. So Nathan reluctantly stepped inside.

Once he did, he hesitated. Should he announce that he was with the Haven PD, on the off chance that Mrs. Wolfe had come home since he got there? "She'd have to be deaf and blind not to have noticed the ambulance," he muttered crossly to himself.

More lights were on than you'd usually expect at that hour, but he imagined that George had looked for the thing that injured his sons before or after he called 911, If only to make sure it wasn't going to attack again.

Look under beds and in closets, Laverne had advised before he'd gone to the Brandons. Shrugging, he decided that was as good a plan as any. None of the first floor closets showed signs of a disturbance, and he hadn't really expected them to. Your typical closet monster wasn't interested in vacuum cleaners or linens. No, they wanted to gnaw on tender young flesh.

_Entertaining such ghoulish thoughts is going to come back and bite me_, he thought with a cringe. He suddenly envisioned himself on his hands and knees, patiently explaining to a blue-eyed brown-haired three-year-old that Daddy was 100% completely sure that there were no monsters under the bed waiting to chew off his little toes if he slept with feet not under the covers. Maybe Jess would be better at monster-busting...

Hair rose on the back of Nathan's neck rose when he heard an animal sound down the hallway. For a moment he was worried that he was in danger of accidentally shooting a family pet, but the sound reoccurred. A roar. Not the sort of sound that could come out of the throat of a dog, cat, hamster or ferret.

He cautiously made his way down the hallway, heart knocking painfully against his ribcage, feeling increasingly worried about what he was going to find. It sounded like a lion. Then it sounded like... David Attenborough? Nathan paused, confused for a second before laughing shakily.

Pushing a door open, he was no longer surprised to see a TV glowing on top of a child's dresser. He himself often had fallen asleep with the TV on nights Garland had responded to calls. The Chief had made arrangements with a neighbor after Nathan's mother died, exchanging yard work duties (which Nathan and occasionally Duke and Julia helped with) for the woman keeping an eye on Nathan those rights. Mostly this meant he could go over to her house if he needed something, so if he was doing okay, he was alone.

He used to think Garland didn't realize he put the TV on to feel less lonely but when he got older he realized that his father had to understand that. Once he did, he tried to figure out how he felt about Garland never discussing it with him, but he couldn't decide if it would have been better if it had been freely discussed, so like other things that had gone unsaid between them.

He flicked the TV off, grateful for the silence that followed. Unlike the fairly neat bedroom Alex Brandon shared with his half-brother, this child's room showed signs of a struggle. As at the other home, a window screen had been split open, which had to be how the thing had gotten inside. Bedcovers that had half-fallen to the floor were twisted and torn, and worse they were spotted with drying blood. If he didn't know that the boys had made it to the hospital, the damage the bedding and surrounding area suggested would have been deeply worrying.

It made him almost hope that he found it in the home, just so he could have the pleasure of dispatching a creature that went after children, the smallest and weakest members of the herd. Not to mention his worries about there being more scenes like this to come if he didn't put it down soon.

To his frustration a thorough search of the Wolfe home proved it empty. Dejection and worry had him slamming the front door behind him, which immediately left him feeling guilty about disturbing the neighbors, but to his relief lights in other homes didn't come on, nor did curtains draw back.

Standing on the porch, he took the opportunity to send Dwight a text, suggesting that they spend some time trying to track whatever it was. They might consider talking to homeowners in the neighborhood, warning people that they shouldn't leave ground floor windows open, which would go over less than well considering how hot late August was in Haven.

He'd just slid his phone back into his pocket when he heard something like an angry hiss. He whipped around, pointing both his flashlight and gun into the rain and darkness, and caught a suggestion of movement. He immediately gave chase, but the now driving rain kept him from making much out. It was big, bigger than he would have predicted given the size of the tears in the window screens it had gotten into the houses through.

For a short time he thought he might get close enough to shoot it, but it clearly was less concerned about tripping over undergrowth and breaking its neck than he was, and it got ahead of him before long.

Panting, he stumbled to a stop when he could no longer see or hear it. "Damn it! Damn, Damn, Damn!"

Under normal circumstances his next move would have been to call Audrey, waking her up to get her input and suggestions, Duke's wrath at having their sleep bothered not a deterrent, but it wasn't as if she could come help him look for the thing then, so he was left feeling a little helpless. Something had to be done about the situation, but he had no idea what.

* * *

Noon

Bronze skinned idiots talked endlessly about annoying trivial things, and Audrey was afraid that she might lose her mind as she listened to them. This is why she called "Come in!" with a desperate eagerness when someone knocked on her door. "Oh, thank God," she sighed when the door swung open.

"Hi, Audrey, I've got your lunch," Danny greeted her. The young server had been the first to volunteer to be someone who brought up her meals - she suspected this was his way of trying to make it up to Duke for the ring fiasco. Audrey liked him, but privately wondered if the mishap had occurred because he was spreading himself too thin between the hours he worked and juggling a partial course load the summer between his junior and senior year of college. He couldn't be getting much sleep.

Danny walked into the apartment, but soon stopped short to stare at the TV. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a Jersey Shore fan."

"I'm not!"

"Then..." he trailed off, giving the TV a meaningful look.

She pointed at the floor, and his eyes followed her finger. "I was channel surfing when I dropped the remote." She'd tried to pick it up with the grabber Duke had Nathan bring her, but she'd only managed to push it completely out of reach. "I've been stuck listening to a marathon of these idiots all morning," she whined.

Part of her had wanted to ask Nathan to come over when he'd called a few hours earlier to update her about his current case, but she hadn't. He sounded worried enough about what he was coping with, and even though she knew that there was no earthly reason to feel guilty about it, she still did. So it wasn't as though asking him to do something completely trivial was going to happen...but another few hours probably would have broken her resolve not to bother him.

"Oh," Danny said, setting her lunch tray down. "Any chance you've got some string and duct tape?"

"There's duct tape in the drawer by the sink," she told him, intrigued. She could still remember Duke showing up with the roll about a week after she moved in, telling her that he'd only make repairs on the place if she proved that the duct tape wouldn't fix the problem. He was kidding. She thought. "Not sure about string, though."

She could hear Danny rummaging through the drawer, just out of her line of slight. "Can I have this shoelace?"

"Uh, sure."

"Great." Danny hummed tunelessly to himself, or at least not anything she recognized as a song but she supposed that might just be because of their age gap, for a few moments.

When he came back to her a minute later, the remote control now had the shoelace in question firmly taped to it. While she watched, he secured the free end of the shoelace to the headboard. It must have been one of Duke's laces because it made for a fairly long tether. Stepping back a foot he said "there" with great satisfaction. "If you drop it again, you can use the lace to reel it back in."

If she'd been the Chief she would have pointed out that it didn't have a reel, but she wasn't him so she said "Thank you!" in sincere gratitude. "This is such a smart idea."

Danny's cheeks pinked at the praise. "Thank my older brother. I got the idea from thinking of the thing he pins my nephew's pacifier to his clothes with. The little bugger can't spit it out onto the floor and scream about it anymore."

Audrey nodded, until she realized unhappily that she was literally as helpless as a baby in some regards. "Thank him for me then," she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. _This isn't forever_, she reminded herself. _Even if it feels like it._

"Will do." Danny fussed with her tray for a minute before bringing it over to her, which she accepted with a brief smile. "I bet you'll be glad when Duke gets home in a few days," Danny commented, making her look up from the tray. "I hate to say it, but I bet this is getting as old as it does for my great-great Aunt Edna when she gets Meals on Wheels. She's happy to be fed, of course, but pretty sad that she can't drive anymore."

The thought of driving left Audrey feeling wistful. Imagine just getting into a car and going anywhere! Not that her belly had been fitting comfortably behind a steering wheel two weeks ago and had only grown since. "I bet she is."

"But hey," Danny said cheerfully. "Less than a month from now you'll be able to drive anywhere you want."

"True." She'd need to remind Duke to pick up the car seat they'd settled on before then. He had the idea that they only needed one and could swap it between his truck and her car, but she imagined that wouldn't last too long before he finally agreed that they really needed one for each vehicle. Money had grown to be a touchy subject between them, so she'd long since decided to let him work that out on his own rather than trying to convince him.

"Well, once you get the baby ready to go you can drive anywhere, that is. Jon says that they're pretty easy to cart around the first few months, though, before they have any idea what's going on or any opinions about going somewhere else."

For some reason this gave her another pang of wistfulness. She and Duke had already ordered a baby sling that could be adjusted to fit either of them because she'd admitted that he wasn't wrong to suggest that she'd probably go back to work too early. The mental image of Duke downstairs with their baby in a sling as he directed his crew left her missing him acutely.

Her expectation that once he left she'd only be relieved that he wasn't worrying himself to a frazzle 24/7 hadn't been fully met; it didn't take into account how quickly she'd long for him to come back. If she was just a tiny bit more selfish, she'd tell him to hurry home, work be damned, the very next time they spoke. But that would just irritate and confuse him. And they really could use the money, not that she let herself think too hard about his goals for such a windfall, so it would be completely unfair to ask him to cut the trip short just because she was a lot more bored and lonely than she'd anticipated. It was only unfair to ask because she knew he'd actually do it for her, and since she loved him too, she wouldn't.

"Good to know," she said when she realized it was her turn to speak still.

"Do you know anyone with babies?" Danny asked. "Free advice, you know."

_Beaty_, she thought, wondering how Duke would take it if she got to know the mother of his older daughter well enough to ask her for advice. Probably not too well, she decided when she imagined Beaty stopping by with little Benny and Alice in tow...and not Jean.

Audrey knew he thought about his little girl a lot more often than he talked about her. Without thinking about it, her hand went to her belly. At least it wouldn't be like that with their baby.

Somehow she imagined him being super attentive, not just because he'd feel the need to show her that she hadn't really needed to ask him to try to love the baby despite being a girl, but also due to being driven by guilt about not being able to be there for Jean the same way. It was going to be messy, she knew that, but as soon as the baby was born without stealing her soul in the process he should feel a lot better even with what was coming down the emotional pike. "No, not really."

"Oh well. Maybe you'll meet someone with a baby or two soon."

It'd be really nice to meet new friends, she privately agreed. Maybe a mom with a preschooler. She'd tried to get to know some of the women Duke employed, but either they were wary of her being a cop, if polite, or they simply didn't stick around long enough for her to bond with. Maybe she should raise a fuss at the station the next time they had to hire a new cop...

"Well, I'll let you eat," Danny told her. There was a night table next to the bed that had been cleared off so Duke's staff didn't have to hang around while she ate - it being there was a place she could put the dishes rather than have them on the bed with her when she was done with them.

"Until next time, Danny," she said with a smile. "And thanks again for saving me from that Jersey Shore marathon."

"No problem." He grinned on his way out.

When the door closed behind him, she used the newly leashed remote to turn off the TV and began to eat her lunch. The Chief had promised that he and Duke would only be gone seven to ten days, all depending on the weather. She hoped for seven.

* * *

Later That Afternoon

"Hello?" Nathan answered his phone on the third ring.

"Hi Chief, this is Pearly Cloutier from the Fedic lab."

"Oh. Hi. I didn't expect you to get back to me so soon."

"I'm afraid I don't have good news," the man apologized. Nathan detected a French Canadian accent, which made his unusual name make a little more sense.

"No?"

"There aren't any roots in the sample. I'm not saying this means testing the DNA is impossible," Pearly said quickly. "But it's going to take more time. A lot more. And doing visual comparisons under the microscope to other samples, including the one Dwight gave us in October-" The wendigo, Nathan realized, wondering if the lab tech knew what he was saying. Possibly. "-hasn't yielded any results."

"So what does that mean?"

After a pregnant pause, Pearly answered. "An introduced species? What I'm saying is whatever this animal is, it's not native to New England or southern Canada. Either it's a migrating animal that's way off course because I tested our usual vagrant species, or you're dealing with something that was brought to the area and escaped. Unscrupulous importers, maybe. I'm sending for samples from non-native species to compare it to, but it's going to take time."

_And probably won't yield any results anyway_, Nathan thought grumpily. He'd been so hopeful that it was a garden variety pest animal responsible for the two calls he'd fielded, but it had to be a Trouble if it wasn't a rogue bear cub, bobcat, or raccoon. Someone was responsible for whatever it was, and the thing was getting more aggressive. The Wolfe children would recover from their injuries, but what if it maimed the next person it attacked? Or worse?

After he rubbed his face, Nathan told the lab tech, "I appreciate the update. Please keep me in the loop about future findings." Or lack thereof, he silently added.

"Sure thing."

He summoned Stan a minute or two after he hung up with the lab. The older officer arrived promptly and gave him a questioning look. "Chief?"

"I need you to hold down the fort."

"Got another call?"

"No. I'm going to see if George Wolfe will let me talk to his kids about what happened this morning."

"Right. Just let me know when you get back."

Nathan pocketed his keys. "I will."

* * *

_a/n: pay attention to Nathan's case, Folks, it's important. Not just here because I hated "Stay" and wanted to write about something else =)_

_Faerax and I want to know who you liked better from season 3: Tommy or Claire._


	17. In Anger, the Truth Outs

The Wolfes' driveway was crowded by the time Nathan pulled into it. He recognized their car from that morning, though its color looked a bit different now that it had stopped raining temporarily. The van parked next to it likely belonged to the man he could see replacing the screen in Ben's bedroom window. Fortunately it didn't look like Beth Wolfe had gotten home yet to make his request less likely to be fulfilled.

George Wolfe looked exhausted when he answered the door. "Afternoon, Chief. What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to talk to your sons about what happened," Nathan told him. "And get your permission to explore your property with an associate."

Wolfe frowned, but after a moment, he stepped back to let Nathan in. "Alright. If you think it'll help you contain whatever it is."

"Thanks."

While Wolfe gathered his sons, Nathan sent a quick text to Dwight, asking him to come over. He wasn't quite sure how long it would take to talk to the kids, but he figured that Dwight could get started outside without him if need be.

George returned carrying his older boy, which made Nathan feel both guilty and surprised. He hadn't realized how badly hurt he'd been because he'd been quiet when he'd peeked into the ambulance. George made Georgie comfortable on the couch, and Ben hung back awkwardly until his father drew him near.

"Boys, Chief Wournos is trying to find the animal-"

"Monster," Ben automatically corrected.

"-that hurt you. He needs to ask you some questions about what you remember about it, okay?" George asked.

On the drive over Nathan decided that he wasn't going to ask them how they'd been hurt because it would be too traumatic to them for too little gain. Instead he'd ask them what it looked like, and if they happened to spontaneously offer other details, then great.

"Okay," they agreed. Ben climbed onto the couch his brother was lying on, and put his splinted and bandaged hand on his lap.

Nathan started when he realized that George was leaving the room. "You can stay," he explained. Even if the kids were being questioned for wrong-doing parents were allowed to stay, so certainly he could now.

George shook his head. "I need to get dinner ready and pay the window guy. But if you need me, give me a yell."

"Uh, okay." Nathan watched the man retreat. Then he looked back at the boys. The small blond boys looked back at him. "So, how are you feeling?"

Georgie scowled. "Bad."

Ben looked down at his hand, and shook his head. "Not good."

"I'm sorry."

Looking up at him, Georgie said, "Dad told us you got hurt real bad last year and took a long time to get better."

Nathan raised his eyebrows, realizing that if he'd followed his impulse to mention that to George hours earlier wouldn't have been giving him information he didn't already have. "That's right. But as you can see I'm fine now." He wondered if it was a good time for a gun safety lecture and decided against it. "And I'm sure you're not going to take nearly as long to be better."

"I'm probably not going to start school on time, though," Georgie said, and his tone suggested that he was a kid who actually enjoyed school.

"Georgie got eleventy-seven stitches," Ben told Nathan. He bounced on the couch as he did, clearly impressed by his brother's wounds. "That's way more than me and he didn't even cry when they put 'em like I did."

"Not that many stitches!" Georgie rolled his eyes. "Forty."

Nathan's stomach lurched in an unpleasant manner. No wonder George had decided to carry him. "Wow. That's..." He instinctively put his hand on Ben's shoulder to keep him from bouncing anymore when he noticed the pained look on his brother's face. "How about you tell me what the monster looks like."

Ben's eyes got big. "You really believe us that it's a monster?"

He shrugged. "Well, we don't know what it is, and monster's as good a word for it as any."

"Is gray-brown a color?" Ben asked. "Because that's what color it is."

"Do you mean gray and brown, like in patches?"

"Nope. It's gray-brown all over." When Ben looked at Georgie, his brother agreed.

Nathan had no idea what color he'd thought it had been, so he couldn't disagree. "Okay. How big do you remember it being?"

"Big," George said. "Like grandpa's lab."

"Big, yeah, but I thought it was more like a cat," Ben disagreed. "Like a lion."

"It wasn't as big as a lion."

"I know but." Ben's expression showed his frustration at not knowing how to articulate his thought. "But it was still more like a cat than a dog."

"Didn't look like a dog. Didn't look like any animal I'd ever seen," Georgie said before yawning. It made Nathan wonder what sort of number the pain killers the kid had to have been given were doing on him.

"I know, but..."

Nathan suddenly had an epiphany as he thought back to trying to see the creature in the driving rain. "Hey Ben, do you think it acted more like a cat? The way it moved, maybe?"

"Yeah! It moved like a cat in the zoo."

"Okay, right." Holding his hands apart, he said, "Let's see if we can agree on how big it was."

"Put your hands apart more," Georgie demanded, so Nathan did. "About there."

"I actually thought it was more like this." Nathan spread his hands apart a few more inches.

"Did you see it too?" Georgie asked.

"Not very well. It was outside and it was raining."

Ben suddenly looked relieved. "Oh, good."

Nathan blinked and then wanted to kick himself. Why hadn't he made sure that someone had told the kids that it wasn't still in the house? George had probably claimed that, but the kids had to know he was guessing since he'd gone with them to the hospital. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that I saw it outside. It ran off into the woods before I left your house."

"See? I _told_ you it was outside now," Georgie told his little brother with the level of smugness that only ten-year-old boys seem able to dish up.

Ben looked up at Nathan, face sad and worried. "But you left. It could have come back in through the window after that, couldn't it?"

"Um..."

And that's how Dwight found Nathan and George Wolfe doing a throughout recheck of the house when he arrived.

* * *

Every time a twig snapped, Nathan had the urge to cringe, which was ridiculous because there was no reason to think that the creature was hanging out in the woods behind the Wolfes' house. It was smarter than that.

Dwight glanced over at him. "Do you think it's one of the kids?"

"Hmm?"

"You told me that the lab confirmed that it's not just an animal-"

"Not a local one, anyway," Nathan corrected.

Dwight stared at him until he looked away. "It's not just an animal. So it must be someone's Trouble."

"Why would it be one of the kids? Most people's Troubles don't hurt the troubled person themselves." There were the occasional exceptions, however...

"They're all pretty young. Maybe they don't know what's going on yet."

"So...they created a monster to live under their own bed or in their own closet and it got away or something?" Nathan asked, shaking his head. "A kid who'd do that themselves would be a lot less well-adjusted than Alex Brandon or Ben and Georgie Wolfe."

"Maybe we should look for another kid in the neighborhood," Dwight suggested. He spoke over his shoulder as he stopped to examine something on the ground that had caught his attention. "One who's being bullied, or abused, maybe."

"Dwight." Nathan sighed until Dwight gave him a quizzical look. "If I start profiling children, how do you think that'll go over with the good people of Haven? They'd run me out of town on a rail."

"What does Audrey think?"

He almost asked why Dwight would think Audrey had an opinion, but didn't. Dwight knew him better than he thought which was discomforting. Shrugging, Nathan told him, "She said that I should be careful. Didn't really suggest what she thought it could be."

"Guess she has more pressing concerns," Dwight rumbled.

"Shouldn't she?" Nathan asked sharply. "She might not agree, but she's not up for this. I shouldn't have to bounce ideas off of her at all right now."

Dwight held his hands up. "If this is about me not being around earlier this week, I had-"

"I know," Nathan interrupted him.

"Know what?" Dwight sounded curious rather than alarmed. He looked alarmed when Nathan spun to face him, and look him in the eye.

"I know that you helped my father trick Duke into leaving."

"She needed a break from him," Dwight said calmly.

Nathan's reply was anything but. "Then you get him out of her hair for a day! You don't accept a job in his name and force his hand."

"He could have said no," Dwight said stubbornly.

This, more than his shrugging off his involvement, infuriated Nathan. "Could he? If you asked me five years ago if Duke would ever amount to anything, I would have laughed at you. Hell, three years ago. But he's trying, Dwight. Maybe more for Audrey's sake than his own, but it doesn't matter. For the first time in his life he's making honest money and staying out of trouble. You have no right to endanger his business by having put him in the position of having to leave in order to keep his business's reputation."

For the first time since he'd known him, Dwight looked like he felt guilty. "Duke being gone is done. He'll be back in a few days anyway. But what can I do to help now?"

"From now on you're on call," Nathan said a little less heatedly. "Until this we get this thing contained."

"All right," Dwight agreed. After a long pause he looked at Nathan and asked, "So if we don't profile kids, how are we going to figure out whose trouble it is?"

It was Nathan's turn to stare. Sometimes it was hard to remember that some of the most helpful people in dealing with Troubles weren't actually cops themselves. "Most likely we catch them in the act, same as usual."

"Right." Dwight sighed. "That whole warrant and due process stuff." He sounded like he was put out by the very idea of following policy and procedures.

Nathan could relate to that more some days than others.

* * *

The Next Day

No matter where he went, Duke mused, the men and women that made their lives around the sea all were pretty much the same. There was a difference in the accents, but not in the attitude. Duke moved with ease among the other sailors and seamen in port. His ship was docked out on the more "industrial" end of the long line of wharves. The masted sailing ships were docked at the more tourist accessible end, and it was thronged.

People formed a small ocean, with eddies and currents of their own as they drifted along, staring at the glories of a by-gone age. Duke could smell the hot tar that had been used to seal the timbers over the omnipresent sent of salt water, and curiously, french fries. Back from the road, away from the main "drag" which led down the wharves, there were the ever present concession stands selling the bowls of fried and salted potatoes as well as fried bread. The scent reminded Duke of a much happier afternoon and teasing Audrey about the baby names. Life had seemed so easy then. Now he felt as old as Garland.

It seemed wrong somehow to be walking along the wharf, staring at the crowds without Audrey by his side. Garland had practically thrown him off his own ship claiming that the pacing was going to make the fish even harder to catch then they had been before. Duke snorted. He wondered if he should help Garland with that or not. Guess it depended on if he was more irritated at the ex-Chief or the newspaper men. They were all getting on his nerves.

Still, Garland had done well by him on this trip, when he wasn't being an annoying son of a bitch. Unfortunately that was frequently. Since the old man had made those damn sandwiches he seemed to believe that Duke owed him something or another. But whatever it was eluded Duke. The two had come to a cautious truce, mostly involved with ignoring each other except for meal times. Still, duke Acknowledged the old man was trying.

The Teagues, on the other hand, were less then helpful before the whole cow mess, and he couldn't imagine that they were any more useful now. Given that, he made a decision that he would help Garland win his little bet. Besides which, it would keep him busy for a while. But until then he could at least admire the ships.

These were the proud vessels that connected the worlds together when this country was but a glimmer in an explorer's eyes. A small city in a wooden shell, he tried to imagine crossing the seas on it. In this day and age, there were satellite navigation, short wave radios, and various other means to ensure that you were never out of touch. Ships may have been lost at sea, but it certainly was a hell of a lot harder to lose them. Seafaring was safer than it had been, but it still was an open frontier, and like the frontiersmen of old, there was a strong sense of community and independence still. The sailor took a long time to examine a quarter of the ships that had been docked. The young men and women, many of whom were quite literally spending a semester at sea, were willing to talk about what working and living on the ship were like. It took a lot of work to keep the ships "ship-shape and Bristol fashion."

It was interesting to learn the differences between the ships from different countries. The design differences from the home ports showed both pride of country and workmanship. The history and maritime traditions varied, but the enthusiasm was the same and shared. These kids had seen much of the world, and he remembered when he wanted nothing more than to do the same. Maybe if things didn't work out, he might still. He wondered if the ships could accommodate a baby…

The sun was sinking behind the headland by the time Duke found himself ambling back in the direction of the Cape Rouge. However he had somewhere to go first. He was able to cadge a ride with some of the college student sailors that were heading to a local strip mall to pick up that most important staple: Beer. Duke left them and headed to the local market, and got what he needed. It only took a few more minutes for the students to come back out of the local packy with the grog for the thirsty crew.

Together they went back to the marina. The students offered Duke a berth, but he turned them down, citing the need to get his purchase to Garland. Moreover, after a long day of tourists visiting, odds where there would be much deck swabbing and repair needed, and Duke would rather not have to deal with that. There was some truth in the saying that a boat was a hole in the water you threw money into because it seemed like something was always breaking and needed repairs. He could only imagine what it must cost to keep these matrons of the sea afloat and in the style they were accustomed too.

Duke bounced up the gangway to the Cape Rouge's deck. Garland had a cooler beside him, and it was empty. "No luck?"

Garland shook his head. "No. I think the fish moved out. Too cold."

The smuggler ducked his head and grinned. "I don't think the fish are so worried about that. They seem to like the cold. I think it's you that they don't like. Probably have some sort of grudge, since you are trying to kill them and all."

The former chief snorted and packed up his gear. Duke motioned for him to follow him down to the galley.

The air of the galley was pleasantly warm, making duke notice exactly how cold it had gotten as night closed in around them. Winter was coming. He realized he'd been watching too much Game of Thrones when he suddenly had visions of the Stark family. Pushing the images aside, he focused on what, exactly to make for dinner. He began banging around the pot and frying pans, deciding that he could make do with the limited selection of spices in his cabinets. He started pulling out what he needed and setting it out on the counter.

When Garland finally appeared, Duke grinned. "Head's Up!" he caroled out, and chucked his purchase at the older man.

"What the hell!? Why did you just assault me with a fish?" Garland looked thunderstruck as he clutched the large salmon to his chest.

"To help you win a bet. You said you could catch a bigger fish than the Teagues, and I'm betting that Simon the salmon," he paused and gestured to the fish, "will get you that prize."

The old man walked over to the counter and dropped the fish on it. "Duke, no way in hell did this fish come from the ocean."

Duke wiped off the knife with a towel and then set it down on the cutting board. "Actually, the ancestral history of that fish says it comes from the ocean. And I believe that you said that you had to catch a fish, not that it required tackle to do it. So, I threw you a fish, you caught it, problem solved."

Garland sat on the stool on the side of the counter facing Duke, keeping a careful eye on the knife, clearly hoping that Duke wouldn't be inclined to use the knife on him. Then he took a careful breath. "I thought you couldn't eat meat."

"Actually, I can. I just can't eat meat from an animal that was killed exclusively for me. Since I intend to cook that fish for both of us, it is on the menu." Duke grinned again. "There's always a way around the rules if you look hard enough." He took delight in seeing Garland grind his molars a few millimeters shorter. This was like having the bird in the hand and the two in the bush, annoy both the Teagues and Garland.

There was silence for the rest of the time it took Duke to prepare the meal and serve it. The silence reigned throughout dinner, and then past it, while the two men worked on cleaning up the dishes. Garland's phone rang and he quickly answered it. From the half of the conversation he heard, it was Nathan about something back in Haven. Duke watched carefully, in case the ex-chief gave any sign about Audrey. He was rewarded with "Well, tell her to not to worry about it... Yes I know, but you are with her, and she'll listen to you. No, I haven't killed him yet. No, I don't think he's planning on killing me yet. Yes, I'll call you. Ok, bye."

"What's wrong with Audrey?" the captain asked.

Garland shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

Duke growled. "Not gonna happen, what's wrong with Audrey? I can fly back tomorrow."

"I told you, nothing. She's just bored and wants to work on a case. Nathan'll see that she takes care of herself." The steel in the old man's voice matched the raw anger in Duke's.

"Listen old man, Nathan isn't responsible for her, I am." The sea captain pushed himself away from the counter, and closed in on Garland, looming above him.

The ex-cop didn't back down, any more than a bulldog would the bull it was baiting. "You need to get over this jealously issue you have with Nathan. The fact is that he's there and you are here."

"And why am I here? Because YOU forced me to be here. I didn't ask for this trip. Hell, we didn't need the money that badly." Duke's nostrils flared.

"You're here because you were driving Audrey crazy. You're here because you really need to grow up. You are about to have a child, Duke. It's time you stopped acting like one." Garland moved closer to Duke, glaring up as hard as Duke glared down.

"Me, acting like a child, that rich." An angry laugh chased the words. Duke backed up, turning his back on the other man.

"Don't you walk away from me when I'm talking to you, boy."

"You aren't my father," Duke called back, continuing to walk away.

"And that's a damn good thing. You would have never lived to see your 18th birthday if I had been."

Whirling, Duke warned, "Be careful old man, I'm the captain of this ship and I can put you off."

"You wouldn't dare. Even you aren't that stupid."

Duke paused, reminding himself that for some reason, Audrey had a mild affection for the curmudgeon in front of him. He was sorely tempted to hit the bastard, though. "You are right, I'm not. But the only reason I'm not locking you in the cargo bay is because of Audrey. I want you to know that. I don't like you. I'm beginning to understand why your son doesn't even like you."

Garland hissed, "You leave Nathan out of this. He has nothing to do with it."

"Your son won't even talk to you. He didn't even want to talk to your ghost until Audrey made him." Duke smiled vindictively as he saw his verbal barbs hit home.

Garland visibly flinched. "My son and I have problems, but we love each other. Given who your father is, I'm surprised you even have a passing acquaintance with the emotion."

"My father was 'gifted' by the troubles with the ability to end them. It broke him. What's your damned excuse for being a piss-poor father?" Duke was getting red-faced.

Garland leaned against the couch. "I was the best father I knew how to be. I thought by coming along on this trip I would help you be the best father you could be, but that's a lost cause."

Duke straightened up, crossing his arms across his chest. "Oh pray, tell? What does Daddy Wournos have to teach me? Please, lay it on me."

Garland shook his head. "How to be a good man in a bad situation. How to be responsible. However stunts like the one you just pulled with the fish make me doubt, seriously, whether you ever can." From somewhere above their heads a series of creaks and pings could be heard.

"You lecture me, but you will sink the damn ship if you can't control yourself, you bastard."

"My parents were married. Nice to see you are carrying on Simon's legacy, littering the world with your children. This time, though you are going to have to be responsible. Neither Nathan or I will let you leave Audrey high and dry."

"You think that I'm just going to leave Audrey? Did you miss the memo where YOU forced me to come here because I didn't want to leave her? The Teague boys fail to find your brain when they picked up your rocks, old man?"

"Oh, I can see you think you'll be there for the long haul, but as soon as that baby's up all night, or if, God forbid, Audrey dies, you'll be gone, and we'll be left to pick up the pieces."

"I didn't willingly leave Jean and I am not leaving Audrey or our baby." Duke's eyes flashed, and the very set of his body promised violence to anyone that denied that truth.

"I'd be more willing to believe that if Audrey had an engagement or wedding ring on her finger," Garland fired back.

"You have to talk to her about that." Duke's proud shoulders slumped, and he looked away.

Garland bulled ahead, still angry and upset. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that she said no!" The volume of the shout didn't begin to match the intensity of the confusion and pain the six words evoked in Duke. "I've got to get out of here," he hissed, and grabbed his coat, leaving Garland and painful truths behind.

* * *

_**a/n: Well?**_


	18. The Olive Branch

Garland huffed out a breath, shocked, as he watched Duke storm off the boat. Audrey was the one that turned Duke down? There must have been some story behind that one. One he wondered if he would ever get it now that the he'd made the captain abandon ship. Certainly would explain why Duke was doing his level best to come apart at the seams.

Garland looked at the bulkhead, wondering if he should go after the captain or not, and eventually decided not to. There was too big a chance that the man had melted into the crowd, and he'd likely be back here once he blew off some steam. It wasn't like he was going to drive back to Haven without his boat.

Maybe he could have a more reasonable conversation with the man once they both calmed down. Garland knew both Audrey and Duke well enough to know that they both loved one another deeply. Audrey's rejection had probably shaken the young man to the core. The old chief wasn't a man that dwelled on emotions. Matters of the heart were in the feminine specialty, or at least had been when he was Duke's age. Men didn't talk about such things, they just endured. Except it looked like Duke wasn't enduring.

What the hell do you say to your enemy's son? One that when you watched him grow up, you thought but for the grace of his mother, yours might have ended up the same way? It wasn't like Duke had grown up with a huge pool of adult males to look up to in his life. He himself had not wanted the boy in his home, and had barely tolerated his presence. Truth was he had put up with Duke for Nathan, who seemed to like him on those occasions that Duke wasn't making his life miserable.

When the domestic violence reports had later come in to the station, Garland had felt pity for the boy, but it had been the same type of pity you felt for someone who got what they deserved. Duke was still Simon's son, and the evil that the father had done had to have been visited on the child. Hell, when Earl showed up looking for his father, he'd refused to even look at his younger brother. Garland had never exactly figured out what the problem there had been, except that it was a Crocker problem he didn't need to concern himself with at the time.

He should have remembered that regardless of parentage, Duke had only been a boy. Now he was a man, and one that had done the best he could with the world as he understood it. Maybe it would have made Duke understand things better. Understand that if Audrey said no, it didn't mean she didn't love him. Damn but Audrey and Duke seemed to perversely enjoy making life difficult for each other. Odds were that Audrey didn't even realize that she'd probably inadvertently started Duke's hovering with her rejection.

Garland sighed and leaned up against the bulkhead. He was shaken from his musings by a loud voice and banging on the hull. He went out to the deck. A young man in jeans and a stained t-shirt was on the deck, calling out loudly. He cut off his shout and ran over to Garland. "Hey, man, the Terra Nova was supposed to get three crates of rope and we only got two. The guy on the van thinks that maybe it got messed up with the order for the Terra Negra, which Crocker Imports and Exports was carrying. Can you check your manifests?"

"Ah, give me a minute. Stay here, son." Garland looked at the kid through a cop's eyes and felt that the kid really was just trying to sort out some clerical error. Nothing about it screamed trouble. Still, he wasn't about to invite the kid in.

The ex-cop went into Duke's quarters on ship and looked for the paperwork on the shipment. Curiously, he noticed a slightly battered cardboard box on the floor, on the far side of the bed. It was unusual in that there were pinholes all over the sides. There was also a faint order of manure coming from the box.

"Do not tell me he finally got the iguana," Garland muttered.

Vowing to look into it after he sorted out the shipping manifests, he wasn't looking forward to lizard wrangling. Spikey demonic little things. More miserable than any damn dog or cat.

Silently fuming about potential lizard wrangling, Garland searched for the list. Eventually he found it. Damn but the boat was expensive to fuel up and ship out. No wonder the guy "fell down a lot" when Duke and Audrey were kidnapped when the guy looked for the baseball card or whatever Duke was smuggling at the time.

The cargo list showed the numbers of the items shipped and the end destinations of those parts. Terra Negra was supposed to get quite a few items, and after a few minutes Garland deduced that there were 4 cases of 12 coils in each of rope delivered to the other ship. He took the sheet of paper and photocopied it, intending to send the kid on his way and deal with what was likely to be an angry lizard.

"The other boat got 4 cases of rope," Garland said, gruffly.

The kid rolled his eyes. "I know that and went there first. They got the four cases, but manufacturer says that the Terra Nova's were shipped on The Cape Rouge. Can't you just like check your hold or something? It's got to be here."

Garland sighed and went down into the hold. Sure enough there was a crate in one of the corners. Grabbing a crowbar he levered it open. Inside were several coils of rope and a purchase order made out to Terra Nova.

Growling, wondering exactly how he got to be the lacky in this situation, he dragged the case out to the opening of the hold. Then he had to trudge back upstairs and maneuver the winch into the position. Then back down to the hold to hook it up. Then back up to lift it. Then Garland had to unload it because he and the kid couldn't fit the whole crate in the tiny mini-cooper the kid was driving.

It took a little over an hour to get the kid sorted out and on his way. Watching the fading tail-lights of the car, Garland went back into the main living space on the ship. Checking carefully, he found the iguana tank, and surely enough, there was no sign that it was inhabited.

The old man prepared to do battle. He grabbed the sword Duke kept over the door, and then found some oven gloves. Armed and armored, he prepared to take on Duke's potential dragon. Who in their right mind would want a slimy, disgusting reptile as a pet? Garland had always been grateful that unlike in Florida and more temperate states, New England didn't have nuisance lizards. There would always be an unpleasant association of lizards and Mickey Mouse in the one ill-fated trip they took to Disney World when Nathan was 7. It hadn't been pleasant to wake up to a lizard on his chest in the hotel room. Nathan's mother had laughed herself off the bed when he let out a manly scream.

He crept up on the box, holding the sword, still in its scabbard, in front of him. The captain would likely put him off the ship if he killed his pet. Not that miserable lizards should ever be pets. Carefully he nudged the box, testing for a response. Inside he heard a slight scrabbling noise. He backed away, and grabbed the blanket that had been folded neatly at the foot of Duke's bed.

He envisioned a plan of action. He would knock over the box and then throw the quilt on top of whatever came out. Then he could take the blanket with its vile contents and throw it into the tank. It was a good plan. A serviceable one. He could do this. He took a couple of deep breaths, steeling himself. He stabbed at the box and heard it rustle back. With a mighty sweep of the sword, and a loud battle cry, he swept the box on to its side, dropping the sword. He threw the blanket over it and then tackled the bed clothes. Twisting and rolling he fought to restrain the iguana before it could escape or bite him.

The sound of laughter interrupted the fight, along with a bright flash of light. Blinking to clear the bright lights from his eyes, he saw Duke, poised to take another picture. Belatedly, he realized that what he thought was the iguana was the sword, and it was a good thing. Had it been the iguana he likely would have throttled it to death.

He looked at the blanketed sword in his hand. "I think your pet iguana escaped."

Duke turned to him, eyes suddenly wide with fear. "You shouldn't have done that. You really shouldn't have."

"Why not?" Garland asked, becoming alarmed himself.

"It was exposed to radiation. I was bringing it to Canada because there's someone there who can deal with it, if...gets out of hand."

"Define out of hand."

Duke just shook his head, looking like he was going to be sick.

Garland was struck numb for a moment. Oh God, the man's pet, disgusting though it was, was sick, probably had cancer, and was dying. It wasn't enough the boy had to worry about Audrey and his child, but his pet, too? Garland's shoulders slumped, upset at himself and for Duke. He ran a ragged hand through the gray hair on his head, sighing. He looked up and saw Duke's shoulder's shaking.

The man was crying over his damn lizard. A choked off sound could be heard, a sob cut short. Except, it hadn't sounded much like crying. He pondered it a moment before he realized two important things. One was that Duke was one hell of an actor when he wanted to be. The other was that he'd not seen any evidence of an iguana in the entire trip up here.

Garland narrowed his eyes and glared at the box.

* * *

Duke had stormed off the boat, trying futilely to rein in his temper and failing miserably. What right did that broken down old bastard have to try to run his life? He hadn't needed an old man in years, and if he did, he certainly wouldn't have picked Garland Wournos for the role.

His rage had carried him down to the end of the pier, and off into the dock side business districts that dotted the shoreline. Trembling he fished his cell phone out of his back pocket and dialed a long since memorized number. He hated himself for a brief moment, for breaking the promises he'd made to himself and to Audrey, though she'd never heard him utter the oath.

"Duke? Is something wrong?" A hint of static obscured Audrey's voice, but it was her voice none-the-less, and beautiful.

Duke stopped, ran his free hand through his hair, then smiled. "Nah, just a sailor missing his girl on shore."

The smuggler could almost hear Audrey's smile. "Hey, you better not get up to the kind of trouble sailors on shore leave are famous for, buddy."

"Why have the rest when I have the best back home waiting for me?" He slouched against a light post, leaning back and settling on the cement footing.

"Oh no, with that much smarm you must surely be desperate."

"Well, I can tell you Garland is not nearly as pleasant to watch get dressed. Man needs to post a warning when he is changing clothes."

Audrey's laugh shivered over the miles and he took comfort in the sound. "Were you struck blind?"

He voiced his most put upon sigh. "No, I just wish I was. I sort of pity Nathan's mother, I mean, she had to sleep with a man that arguably has more hair in appropriate places than a bear skin rug."

"Then she was probably warm at night," Audrey replied without missing a beat.

He knew he was grinning like an idiot. He didn't care. Much. "My girl always looks on the bright side of things. How are you doing?"

"I'm good. You know, I think you are rubbing off on your kids. One of the lights went out on the patio and Sam thought he could fix it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But don't worry, the fire was only a small one and Nora was able to put it out with the fire extinguisher before it did any real damage."

"WHAT!"

She began to chuckle. "You are so easy. The Gull's fine. I'm fine, and even though you'd never ask, Nathan and Dwight are fine."

Duke quietly banged his head against the pipe supporting him. "Audrey..."

He could hear the cloth of the bed-spread rustling or maybe it was the static again. "Duke. What are the ships like? Tell me."

The two of them talked for half an hour about inconsequential things. He told her about the tall ships, their colorful canvas, the sleek forms of the junks, and the matronly elegance of the galleons. She told him about being finding the absolute worst shows on day-time television. The frustration was plain in her voice, making the man want to bring himself to assure her that it would only be a few more weeks, but he was afraid of what that would bring. He didn't want anything to happen to her. He didn't want to imagine his life without her in it.

Duke listened to her sigh and quietly murmured "I love you."

"I love you, too. Fair winds and following seas."

Duke blinked in surprise, wondering who had taught her that phrase. He was going to ask her but she had already disconnected. Still, the talk with Audrey made him feel better, lightened a load he hadn't wanted to admit to carrying. She was hale and whole. It helped to put things in perspective. It made the issues with Garland seem trivial.

A cool wind was whipping from the sea towards the shore. It bent the trees. The storm that had been threatening the coast was coming in, and that meant that he and Garland would need to head out soon. It was better to run before the storm than to be caught out in it.

He started back to his ship's berth and ran into a bunch of rowdy students running down the docks. Duke was able to dance around most of them, but ended up getting flattened by someone that could have been an NFL linebacker. The two picked themselves up, and then Duke picked up his phone from where it had fallen out of his pocket. He inspected it, and found the battery had been cracked. The battery itself was loose in its socket. Concerned he powered it on, and it flickered into life. Satisfied, Duke pocketed the phone and continued to his ship.

The captain returned to the Cape Rouge to find Garland about to do battle with Katie McCready's box. Heart in his throat he watched as the old man knocked it over and then assaulted it with his comforter. Katie was going to kill him if the damn thing was damaged.

Still, the mighty police chief rolling around on the deck wrapping himself up in cloth while actively strangling... something... wasn't a sight seen every day. He took a picture of it on his camera. Oh, this was going to be good blackmail material for years to come.

When Garland told him earnestly that he thought the iguana escaped, he came up with the first thing that crossed his mind. Godzilla. That would be a great name for an iguana, if he ever got the tank conditions right. The younger man wondered how long he could keep up the ruse when he was soundly smacked with the sheathed sword.

He knew he shouldn't have laughed.

* * *

Garland looked at Duke, who was failing at looking contrite. After watching the boy mope for days and deny himself the pleasure of the sea and the ships that he loved. The barely contained amusement was good to see. The ex-police chief was glad that something rocked the sailor out of his malaise.

"You talk to Audrey or something?" he asked, wondering if he'd be cheerful about that considering what Duke had said. Still, he hadn't broken up with her for turning down his proposal, so he couldn't hold it against her too much then.

The sailor nodded. "Yeah. She said to tell you Nathan's fine and you should stop worrying."

The old man snorted. "I bet." He turned around and glared at the box. "That isn't your lizard, is it?"

"No," Duke responded.

The old man closed his eyes. Some people never change. "You want to tell me what's in the box?"

The younger man seemed to consider it for a moment. "No, not really." He walked over to the box and set it upright. "But I will." Carefully he opened it and angled it so that the 5 orchids nestled within could be seen. What had seemed to be scratching in the box was likely the long wooden stems hitting the side of the box when he hit it.

Garland took a deep breath. "Why do you have orchids in a cardboard box?"

"Because I was asked to get them into Canada." Duke carefully closed up the box, setting it back down by the bed and then sitting down on the rumpled sheets, facing the older man.

Garland decided that maybe Duke was calm enough to ask the next set of questions. "Can you bring orchids into Canada?"

Duke raised his brows, canted his head to the side, and grinned his anti-authority grin. "Technically, yes." He pointed to the box.

"Legally?"

"You can bring orchids legally into Canada. They aren't anti-orchid." Duke was still wearing his anti-authority grin, letting Garland know that something wasn't quite kosher with the plants.

"How does one bring orchids legally into Canada?" The ex-chief was rather proud of how level his voice was.

"Ah, what makes you think that these orchids aren't here legally?" Duke ducked his head. One of the signs he wasn't comfortable.

Garland watched him, recognizing the attitude from the man's youth. Duke knew he was doing something wrong, but didn't want to admit it. Would walk across hot coals first. It was almost a relief to have the boy act normal for once. "Because I know you well enough by now that you wouldn't keep flowers in a box for no reason. I know it's not part of the cargo manifest. And if they were yours to have, you'd have put them in the apartment, with Audrey."

"Audrey couldn't water the flowers, she's on bed rest," Duke pointed out, reasonably.

"But your staff could." Garland narrowed his eyes and drew on his old mantle of authority. "Why are you smuggling orchids into Canada?"

Duke raised his eyes and set his shoulders for a fight, "Who says I am?"

"I do. Now spill it, Duke."

"Look, it's not as bad as it seems..." Duke trailed off, and Garland could tell the younger man was trying to figure out how far he could push things. The old officer didn't give him an inch, knowing that Duke would take it and run with it. He just looked at the boy with the same implacable stare that generally worked when he and Nathan were younger.

"I was asked too," Duke finally answered.

Garland knew better than to ask by whom, because Duke wouldn't have lived long in his profession if he dropped names. As much as he disagreed with the smuggler, there were times, like now, that he respected him. "Audrey know that you were carrying more than just the ship's supplies?"

Duke shook his head. "No, she doesn't, and I would prefer it kept that way."

"I'm sure you would but you would have to come up with an awful good reason why I shouldn't tell her." Garland met Duke's eyes, letting him know he meant it.

"These five plants are worth more to their owner than anyone sane would imagine. I had to think..." Duke swallowed heavily. "I had to think about what would happen if Audrey died and I wasn't sure what I could do. I would need the money to care for the baby."

Duke looked away, but went on. "It's not that bad, I check, Garland, I swear I checked before I took the job. It's not like before. I swore I would never take another package without knowing the contents again, not after..." A shudder wracked Duke's frame. "Anyway, I knew what I was carrying and why I was carrying it. The owners are some rich couple from Ottawa. They were in Maine for a vacation and something in their rented cabin broke. Long story short they went to Home Depot and while he was figuring out what to buy, she fell in love with the damn plants, so she bought them." Duke looked up, stared at the ceiling and brought his hands up to rub at the base of his neck. A sign of mild stress, generally indicative that he was either upset he was lying to someone he liked or telling a truth he didn't want revealed.

"When they went back home, they got stopped at the airport. They needed a certificate from the grower that the plants weren't on the CITIES list, which seems stupid. I mean, really, I doubt the helpful hardware place would be selling endangered species of plants."

Garland quirked his lips in a grin. "That's Ace, Duke."

Duke shot him an annoyed glance. "Hell, I was also asked to bring a few Lady Slippers up, and I refused, and cost myself a good chunk of change. They are endangered."

Garland shook his head, raising a hand to his forehead. "Well, at least we know you won't stoop to smuggling native endangered plants. But it's still wrong, Duke. And you know it."

"Does it matter if it's wrong if by doing it I have some money set aside to take care of my baby? Who is hurt by this, Garland? Some bureaucrat that can't fill out his daily quota of paperwork? THEY WERE PLANTS FROM A HARDWARE STORE. Not drugs, or guns, or poisons." Duke closed his eyes.

The ex-cop chewed on his lip for a moment. "Well, I can't say I'm impressed you did it, but I suppose if you had to do it you did it for the right reasons. A man has to do what he can to keep his family safe and fed." It was gratifying to see the look on Duke's face at that pronouncement. The boy could have been knocked over with a feather. Garland took advantage of the silence to continue. "Don't get me wrong, I am not endorsing you bringing anything illegally anywhere, but I can understand why you did it, and why you thought it necessary. But you are forgetting something big here Duke."

Duke's shocked countenance turned wary. "What?"

"There's more than you involved." Garland held up his hand, shushing Duke with his motions. "Audrey's well loved by a lot of people back in Haven. Beyond that, she's family to me and Nathan, she's our little girl. Let's say the worst happens and you're right and Audrey dies. Do you honestly think Nathan and I would leave the baby high and dry?"

The leery, wary look hadn't left Duke's face, but it was subtly changed include thought. Garland patiently waited for an answer. "You wouldn't be able to take her from me. I won't let you. She'd be all that I had left of Audrey." There was defiance and steel in the words.

"That little girl would be all any of us have left of Audrey, Duke. But you're her father, and it would be wrong to take her from you." Garland could scarcely believe he had to utter the next set of words, it went against almost everything he knew, and was definitely against any and all man rules. Still, maybe it would get Duke through whatever happened. "There's nothing keeping you here. Nothing except Audrey. I know it, Nathan knows it, hell, even the Teagues know it. If she dies, you'd be planning your get away that same afternoon, and you'd be taking your girl with you soon as they'd let you take her home from the hospital. Our girl. Maybe it's in our vested interests to make you want to stay. So we all can watch your little girl grow up, become whatever she decides to be."

"You'd bribe me to stick around?" The disbelief was clear in Duke's tone.

"No, but I'm willing to try to be your friend. Like Nathan has been trying to be, even though you annoy the crap out of him. Like Dwight has decided to be whether you like it or not."

It was as much of an olive branch as Garland could stick out. The old man just hoped it worked. Duke had faced damn near everything in his life alone. Maybe this time he'd realize that he didn't have to, that he had people that he could lean on. Maybe Garland could work on righting some of the wrongs he'd done to a young boy that he'd managed to confuse with his father.

Duke didn't answer, but he did look contemplative. Garland decided not to belabor the point any further. Pushing Duke just lead to him running in the opposite direction of where you wanted him to go. The old man nodded at the younger one and then retired to his borrowed couch, praying he'd said enough, and that he'd said the right thing.

* * *

_a/n: talk to us, people. And Faerax still wants to know who you liked better: Claire or Tommy. Not an idle question!_


	19. Viking Tea Party

The sounds of the car door slamming was the definitive punctuation on the plant smuggling. The silver Infinity pulled away from the curb smoothly, and the tinted windows hid the driver and passenger from all eyes. The plants had been received by their owners, who had stopped off in the coastal town to take in the sights of the tall ships and the history. Duke waved an arm in farewell and then turned back, inhaling deeply the scent of the sea. The storm was moving in quickly now, and Duke would be leaving port within the hour trying to make it out into the open water, hopefully swinging wide around the storm system and then coming back into port. It'd likely add an extra day to the journey but Duke didn't want to think about the potential damage to Cape Rouge if he stayed in port.

Sighing he began walking back to the boat. He'd gotten a load of groceries onboard earlier in the day. Garland's loss of temper earlier lead to a lovely 2 inch crack through the ship to shore's electronics. The main board in the radio was shot. He'd been in town trying to find replacement parts and couldn't. Still, it wasn't the end of the world. The cell would work so long as they were close enough to shore, and there was always the radio. It could have been worse. Garland could have cracked the hull again. The sea captain sighed, trying to imagine the amount of mood altering drugs he'd need to actually board the plane. For Audrey he would take to the skies, but it would take some serious sedatives. If man had been meant to fly, he'd have been born a bird. He'd rather get home on the Cape Rouge.

Duke watched the waves frothing in the harbor. The gentle swells had started to develop white caps, signs of the oncoming storm. It was getting time to leave. Pulling his phone from his back pocket, he checked the charge and found that it was low. He hadn't charged it since he dropped it the night he called Audrey. Garland looked up as he came aboard and the two men nodded at each other.

They hadn't spoken much since that night, both wary of the other's reaction. "You ready to ship off, old man?" Duke asked.

Garland nodded. "Rather not run into the storm."

"My thinking exactly. Figure we head south west and go wide around the storm. Hope you have a strong stomach." Duke grimaced, remembering times with others that didn't have strong stomachs.

The old man shrugged. "Never been out in weather like that. Can't say. Hopefully it'll be fine."

There really wasn't anything that could be done about that save one thing. "Take some Dramamine, then. It'll probably knock you out." Duke fished a packet of the motion-sickness pills out of his pockets and tossed them to Garland, who caught them deftly.

"You get sea sick?" the ex-Chief asked, raising an eyebrow.

Duke nodded. "Everyone does eventually. Figured you wouldn't really be too happy if I was at the rail. Don't worry, I don't fall asleep on them. If anything they make me wired."

"Great," the other man started, then abruptly cut himself off.

Kinder, gentler Garland was creepy as hell, Duke thought. He wondered how far he would have to push to get curmudgeon Garland back. He figured this should be the opening salvo. "Plants got delivered."

Garland remained stubbornly silent. Not even a raised eyebrow. However his eyes were alive with curiosity.

"You would have liked them. Could have traded stories about riding dinosaurs to school." Duke continued fishing and Garland continued to be politely interested. "The guy is about 10 years your senior, and his wife is about 5 years younger. Sweet couple. Very Ozzy and Harriet."

The other man's reserve broke. "They say why they wanted the plants?"

Duke grinned, feeling victorious. "Seems like their little girl died just after her wedding day. She loved orchids and had them all over her bouquet. She died in car crash just this past spring. When they went into the store, Harriet saw them and remembered their daughter. Wanted them to remember her by in what had been the happiest day of her life." Duke leaned on the bulkhead.

A glass clinked as ice slowly melted in it. Garland looked at it briefly and then stared at Duke. "You actually expect me to believe that?"

The smuggler grinned. "I'd hoped, but I wasn't going to bet the boat on it."

The cop snorted. "Get us the hell out of here, Audrey's waiting for you."

Duke disappeared into the wheelhouse with a grin.

* * *

The Following Day

"One lump or two, Audrey?"

"Hmm?"

Duke held out a bone china cup to her. "One lump or two?"

She looked over the side of the bed and realized that Duke had company. There was a small table on the floor and several very small chairs. Duke sat cross-legged on the floor, and most of the chairs contained eerie looking stuffed animals. The last one was occupied by a dark-haired toddler.

"J-j-jean?" she asked, scared for him.

"Of course."

"But she can't be here!" Audrey yelled. "She'll kill you!"

"Don't be silly. My little girl won't hurt anyone," Duke said soothingly. "Come sit with us."

Jean didn't actually seem to be harming Duke. Had her trouble worn off? Did something happen to Beaty? "I'm not supposed to get out of bed."

"The doctor said it's okay now, remember?"

It seemed as though she did remember that, so she carefully got out of bed and joined them. Nothing bad did happen, and the tea was surprisingly good. But then the sky got darker, and all three of them looked towards the windows. The sound of a primal horn rent the air before they could go out on the deck and look.

Men with horned helmets shouted and started to race towards the Gull. Duke bent down and scooped his daughter up before saying "sweetie, go on to mama" before passing her to a woman Audrey couldn't quite identify as Beaty or Helena.

"Now what?" Audrey asked as the leather clad men brandished axes and other sharp weapons, and yelled menacingly.

"Oy!" Duke shouted, getting their attention. They all shut up and began to mill in the parking lot. He pointed. "Go over there."

One of the men shouted something, and even though it wasn't in English, she somehow knew that he was asking where. "The harbor," Duke shouted back. He moved his hands to suggest water. "Go on."

There was a lot of grumbling, but the Vikings eventually began to run in the opposite direction, yelling all the while. Duke brushed his hands together. "That's that."

"Oh crap," Audrey said as they watched the Vikings retreat into the distance.

"What?" Duke asked, sounding a little more alarmed than usual. Probably because they had just been nearly attacked by Vikings.

Audrey looked down. "I think… No, I'm sure my water just broke."

She blinked and they were at Haven General. Audrey was about to ask how they had gotten there so quickly, but a nurse grabbed Duke by the arm and told him in no uncertain terms that he had to do some paperwork.

Audrey watched dismay as he was dragged off in another direction. Before she could even protest that, someone else in scrubs took her by the arm and brought her to what was presumably a delivery room.

"Can I get you anything?" the woman, a nurse she assumed, asked as soon as Audrey sat on the bed.

"All I want is Duke," Audrey said firmly. She probably wanted a doctor too eventually, right then she wasn't actually feeling any pain. Which was a little bit strange when she gave some thought to it.

"Of course. I'll go get him."

The woman turned and dashed out of the room before Audrey could even thank her.

In another blink of an eye, Duke was being pulled into the room by the nurse. "There you are," Audrey said relief.

"Here I am," he agreed. "You doing okay?"

"I'm-"

Before Audrey could tell him about how she wasn't actually feeling anything like labor pains, the nurse said "she will be in just a minute." Then raced out of the room again.

"What was that about?"

"I have no idea."

When the nurse returned she had her arms looped through Nathan and Jess's. "This is who you were looking for wasn't it, my dear?" the nurse asked.

"Um, hi," Audrey said to her brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law. Turning to the nurse she said, "Actually, I was just looking for Duke."

"Right!" the nurse exclaimed, like she had just figured something out.

Before that anyone could ask her what she had an epiphany about, she raced out of the room again.

"She's a little weird," Nathan told them.

"Tell me about it," Duke sighed.

When the nurse returned this time she was prodding a very alarmed looking Claire ahead of her. "Oh, what have we got here? Your little Claire the therapist! You like therapist. Yes, yes, yes."

"What?" Audrey asked, stupidly.

Claire tried to smile bravely. "Audrey, I'm glad that you trust me enough to have me in here when you're in such a delicate… situation, but I'm not exactly sure this is appropriate considering our doctor-patient relationship. I mean, I am a doctor, but not the kind that has anything to do with birthing no babies."

"Then you do have something to do with birthing babies," Duke said. When everyone looked at him he shrugged. "A double negative is a positive, right?"

Audrey only realized that the nurse had made her way out of the room yet again when she returned.

Oh, and here's your Dave," the nurse announced, literally dragging the newspaper man by an ear. He winced and said "ow" but she ignored him and made a swipe into the hallway, snagging someone else by the arm. "What else have we got? What's this?"

"Hi Vince," Duke said halfheartedly.

Frustrated, Audrey covered her face with her hands. When she looked up, the now dirt-splattered nurse had apparently dug up the Carrs. Neither Eleanor nor Julia looked all that fresh. Which probably wasn't surprising, considering they were dead. The fact that they weren't howling for brains, that was a little bit surprising. They just looked really stunned to be there.

"You like your friends Julia and Eleanor! You never wanted them thrown away, did you?"

Audrey started to get up. "You know, I'm okay. I don't think I'm in labor after all. So I'm going to go now."

The nurse shoved her back onto the bed. "Oh no, you are. You just didn't realize you're in pain."

"I am?" her eyes widened when a wave of pain hit her. "Uh oh."

"See?" the nurse asked triumphantly. "Now, then, what else?" It was almost no surprise when she ran into the hallway again and returned hauling Garland in with her. "Oh, it's chief Garland. You love chief Garland, don't you."

Audrey tried to smile at the obviously uncomfortable man. "Well, I guess you could say he's sort of a paternal figure for me-"

"And look at this!" The nurse yelled, pointing at Stan, who Audrey hadn't even seen appear. "Here's officer Stan. He is a treasure. You'll want him, don't you my dear?"

"No, actually I only want Duke." She looked around at the crowd. "I'm touched that you all decided to come, but if you could leave the room, I'd like that very much."

The nurse gave her a look of utter disappointment. "Why would you say that? Everything in the world you've ever cared about is all right here."

"Actually no," Audrey muttered. Giving the people who still crowded around her an apologetic look she said, "Not that I don't care about you guys."

"What's the matter, my dear? Don't you like your friends?" The nurse asked, looking a bit more manic than even moments before.

"They're awesome. I just don't need this many people here when I have the baby. All I need is Duke!"

Duke cast her a worried look. "And the doctor. Right? I mean, I don't know much more about birthing babies than Claire, apparently."

Claire looked mildly affronted. "I did do an OB rotation," she insisted. "I just didn't like it. It's kinda messy. New babies are slippery, that creeps me out a little."

"You think babies are creepy?" Nathan asked, looking disgusted.

"Only when they're really new!"

Over in the corner Garland looked disgusted, not that Audrey knew if he thought it was Nathan or Claire being ridiculous.

"Guys, please?" Audrey pleaded. "I only need Duke. And somebody who isn't creeped out by new babies, hopefully a doctor."

It almost seemed like she was getting through to them, but the nurse wouldn't let them leave the room. Instead she threw herself against the door, and began to scream. Then, for no real good reason, she pulled out a bike bell, and began to chime it. Everyone covered their ears and it seemed to bother them a lot more than her. The chiming simply got louder.

Audrey started awake, and realized that there was no bike bell. Instead it was her phone. She picked it up, and was pleased to see Duke's name on the screen. She pushed call, and said "hi!" way more enthusiastically than she intended to.

She sensed a chuckle in his voice when he said, "you busy?"

"Oh yeah, just waiting for Claire to come over so we can do each other's hair."

"Really?" he asked skeptically.

"Like hell." She laughed herself silly. "So I take it you're still on shore leave?"

"I guess technically since I'm not on the boat, though as of last night Garland I are headed home." He paused when she made incoherently pleased noises, then went on. "But I'm not planning to pick up any girls like most sailors do on shore leave."

"How reassuring," she said dryly, which seemed to surprised him given her squealing only a minute before. Mercurial, Audrey admittedly was.

"Garland, I can't vouch for. Does seem to have his eye on this matronly brunette that took our lunch order."

"Oh Duke. You know, you have really good timing."

"I've been told that zero times before. How so?"

"You woke me up from the craziest dream. Apparently after Vikings attacked Haven, and I went into labor. Things would've been okay, except this manic nurse bringing in everybody and their brother into the delivery room."

"So Vince and Dave were there?"

"Who wasn't there?" Audrey sighed. "I kept telling her all I needed was you. But nobody listened. By the end of the dream I thought I was making some progress in getting everyone else to leave before she flipped out, but you woke me up. I don't mind not finding out how that would've ended."

"Everyone but me and Nathan?" Duke asked.

"No," she said slowly, wondering what he was getting at. "Just you."

"Just me?"

"Well, you and a doctor. Dream you pointed out that you don't know anything about delivering babies."

"I'm just kind of surprised you would've kicked Nathan out too."

"Jesus God, Duke. I think if you did a survey of pregnant women, most of them would say that they had no desire for their male relatives to be there when they gave birth. Just their babies' fathers." She paused for a second. "Well, I think some would actually want their mom there. Not me, but you know, some would."

"I guess that's true," Duke said reluctantly.

"You guess?" she made a face at the phone. "Family's great to have, but they can't do everything for you that a significant other can."

"Like what?" There was a note of amused suspicion in his voice.

Audrey smirked, knowing that he was fishing for a compliment. "Oh, unlike family the person you're in love with can help you feel complete."

"You felt incomplete before we got together?"

"We both know the answer to that," she said evenly. "It doesn't need rehashing!"

"Right. But you're complete now?" he surprised her by persisting.

"As much as I've ever been, Duke," she said truthfully. It wasn't just because of him but much of it was. "You're like the nicer parts of that missing piece book."

He snorted; people had given them a number of picture books, including that one, and they'd spent a night reading them to each other, for practice at her insistence. "As long as you don't mean the end."

"Never," she said firmly. Those aimless, unattached days were behind her. "You're stuck with me."

"Likewise." He paused a moment, apparently lost in thought. "What else is a boyfriend good for that a brother isn't?" he asked at last.

She ignored the fact that he used brother as his example. "Oh... you know," she said coyly. "You know."

"I do?" he asked blankly.

"Geez Duke, I guess it _has_ been too long," she teased mercilessly. "Not that it's been my idea mind you."

"Audrey," he said, managing to convey embarrassment just by saying her name.

"No," she said. "Six weeks after this kid is born, I'll have to do my very best to remind you."

"I'll probably need a refresher course by then," he groaned.

"Poor Duke," she crooned. "You had to realize that chivalry was going to hurt you eventually."

"I've come to regret not believing you when you assured me that I was being overly cautious," he admitted.

Fat lot of good that did either of them. The frustration had only helped her understand the persistent irritability of the nuns who had taught the other Audrey one year.

"Next time, listen to me."

"Next time what?"

She didn't exactly mean if she was ever pregnant again. "The next time I'm right and you're wrong."

"How will I know I'm wrong?" he asked, stepping into it.

"I'll let you know," she promised sweetly.

"Great," he drawled. "Should I let you know when you're wrong too?"

Audrey smothered a sigh. "If I don't seem to see it myself."

"Okay."

All at once her regret got the best of her. "Now, though, I know I was wrong," she admitted softly.

"You do?"

His surprise left her eyes stinging. "I thought a few days apart would make us feel better. But I don't feel better, do you?"

Duke was quiet a moment, the said, "I'm a little less worried about money, But other than that..."

"I shouldn't have teased you. I miss you so much and I only have myself to blame." To her horror she felt herself beginning to tear up. "No wonder I had that dream."

"And the part about the Vikings?" he asked gently.

She cracked up, and he laughed too. "Claire lent me a book. The Very Virile Viking."

"Dwight wasn't one of the Vikings in your dream, was he?" he asked suspiciously.

"I didn't recognize any of the Vikings," she assured him.

"Hey. I have goodish news."

"Goodish? Is that pirate-speak?"

"Nah, Duke-speak. Having Nate's dad along has proved useful. We should definitely be home a couple of days sooner than the ten we predicted."

"I'm so glad to hear that."

"Even though I'll be underfoot again?"

"Even though."

"Crap," Duke groaned. "I need to get the Chief out of her before the matronly brunette's boyfriend or husband decks him. He looks pissed."

"I thought you were joking about that!"

"Nope, I only make sport of the other Wournos's love life," he said piously. "Love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

a/n: Fun fact - back when we were in college, it was discovered to many's aghastment that a friend of ours had never seen the movie Audrey's dream spoofs as a little girl like the rest of us had. So we rushed to the video store, rented it, and piled into two other friends' room to make her watch it I think she liked it, don't you, Faerax?


	20. A Frank Conversation Between Siblings

September First

Rain dripped steadily down Audrey's windows, the fat drops racing each other to the bottom of the sill. Outside it was gray even though it was still early afternoon. And the weather forecaster promised that it would only get worse.

"I'm sure my father and Duke are fine," Nathan said abruptly from his chair, his hamburger still in hand.

"Hmm?" Audrey asked distracted. In the twenty minutes since he'd arrived she'd only picked listlessly at the fries he had brought her, and hadn't touched her burger at all.

Nathan frowned. "I asked you what you wanted for lunch and you have hardly taken two bites of it despite it being exactly what you asked for."

"Sorry-"

"And your eyes keep going to the window, worriedly. I therefore deduce you're worried about The Cape Rouge and her motley crew."

"Very clever, Holmes," she said dryly. He was right, of course. The weatherman took great joy in belaboring the idea that the storm might remain at sea and only continue to brush them as it currently was. Normally she might have been comforted by that idea... but not while two of the people she loved best were out in the teeth of the storm.

"I don't know if it would have been better or worse if Duke had left you his laptop to play with," Nathan muttered, eyeing her. "Worse. I would've gotten here and found you looking up meteorological maps you can't understand."

Heat rushed to her cheeks. The thought had crossed her mind already that she could have gotten more information if she'd had a computer at her disposal. "I'm worried. Sue me."

To her surprise, Nathan smiled and patted her arm. "I would have been surprised if you weren't worried."

This made her heart gallop for a moment. When it settled back down, she cast him a concerned look. "Have you heard something?" she demanded to know, not liking the tremor she detected in her own voice.

Nathan just looked confused. "Heard about what?"

"Something I should be worried about?"

"What? oh. No, of course not. I just meant I'd have been surprised if you weren't worried because you do that."

She shook her head and almost launched into a complaint about his characterization of her as a worrier... but didn't. Somehow, despite worrying almost all of the time about the Troubled she still thought of a worrier as someone who wrung their hands instead of taking action to make things better. Giving Nathan a wry look, she said, "Usually I'm in a position to do something about the things I'm angsting over."

Nathan snorted, making her raise her eyebrows. He held up his hands. "Sorry. I was just trying to imagine what you could have done for Dad or Duke even if you'd gone with them."

The thought of being on the Cape Rouge while it was out to sea in her current condition made her smirk. Most of her experience on boats didn't have them freely moving. She didn't usually experience sea-sickness, but she didn't usually have a big belly to throw off her center of balance, either. All she could imagine was wobbling along the deck with nausea that put her morning sickness earlier on to shame. "Ok," she conceded. "I wouldn't be an asset to them now anyway."

"And even that might be a little generous," Nathan pointed out. "You'd probably be a distraction to Duke."

Audrey sighed. There was little doubt that Duke would have worried about her at least as much if she'd gone along as he had been while he'd still been at home and they'd been on each other's nerves. "But if I was in a condition to go along with them, I wouldn't be on bed rest," she pointed out. "Just pregnant."

"Uh huh," Nathan drawled. "The bed rest's all he's worried about in regards to you."

"He..." She trailed off, knowing what he was getting at. Since their fight months ago Duke hadn't said much about his fears about her soul, but she didn't for a moment imagine that he'd retired that worry. If the injury that laid her low hadn't happened, no doubt he'd be worrying himself ill with the prospect of having something going wrong at sea that would lead to a sea delivery overseen by him and Garland. Audrey was uncertain if he thought that trained medical professionals were more likely to keep her body and soul knit to each other, but no doubt he had no confidence in his own skill at it. "I know," she said at last. Then she started when the baby gave a sharp kick.

"Can I?" Nathan asked, nodding at her belly.

"Sure." She had never grown comfortable with strangers and near-strangers pawing at her, often without even asking, but it was different with those she was close to.

He lightly rested his hand on her belly, seeming a little awed when he was rewarded with another kick. Looking up at her, he said, "I don't think he really believes that this little one is going to take your soul when she's born."

"You don't?" she asked in disbelief. "To me he sure seems to believe that."

Nathan looked out a rain streaked window. "You're going to have to give in and agree to buy a house," he advised, confusing her with the non-sequitur.

"What?" she asked blankly. How would a house keep her soul where it belonged?

Taking his hand away, he looked her in the eye. "He's afraid of losing you, you know. And this whole soul thing, that's just a manifestation of it."

"I'm not sure what you mean." She looked away, uncomfortable.

"Look at it from his point of view. Even expecting his baby doesn't compel you to settle down with him and buy a house like you plan to stay a while."

"I don't know if I do plan to stay," she said, exasperated. "If we can put an end to the-"

"He's afraid that insisting on staying in an easy to leave apartment means you want to keep things easy to leave." He gave her a long look. "That you want to keep it easy to leave him."

"What?" she squeaked.

"Audrey, come on. You've never considered that it's how he'd interpret that?"

"He doesn't even like Haven!" she sputtered. "So how could I think that being unwilling to commit to staying in Haven forever would be equated to being unwilling to commit to him?"

Nathan made a noise of division. "Oh yes, you've demonstrated your desire to stay with him for the long haul by agreeing to marry him, have you?"

Her eyes flew to his face. She had never told him about rejecting Duke's proposal, but somehow he knew that she'd said no. "I didn't say I'd never marry him," she protested. "Just that I wasn't ready to yet."

"Then why did you say no?" he asked. "If you'd said yes but insisted on a long engagement, he would have agreed to it instantly."

Audrey shrugged helplessly. "I...I think he married Evi too soon. I tried to explain that I wanted him to be more sure of me first."

Her brother's look softened. "Buy a house, Audrey. They can be sold again, you know, if the troubles ever end."

She almost snapped that she was aware that real estate could be resold, but decided not to bother. It didn't gladden her heart to imagine offloading a house on an unsuspecting family should she ever get the chance to leave the wilderness of Maine. "Nathan," she said quietly, getting his attention. "When I imagine packing up and leaving because I'm finally free of this town... I imagine my little girl in the back seat, and Duke in the front beside me."

"And Jess and me in the moving van behind yours, moving down the street from you wherever you end up?" he asked drolly.

"The thought has crossed my mind," she admitted. "Though I think you like this place better than any of us."

"My feelings about this town are complicated. But it's not beyond imagining that Jess and I might not grow old and die here."

"Well all right, then." They were just talking nonsense but she still felt a little better about not wanting to stay if leaving wouldn't sever ties with her blood.

After a moment Nathan said, "You need to make sure Duke knows that."

"That you and Jess aren't entirely averse to living down the street wherever we may roam?"

Her amused look faded when he shook his head. "That your fantasies about someday leaving Haven don't include leaving him behind too."

Another woman might have complained that it should go without saying, but she was aware that she hadn't made it easy for Duke to believe that given how long it had taken her to admit to them both that she was in love with him. She thought that she'd gotten better at proving her feelings, but she could understand if he still had doubts." I will."

"Good," Nathan said firmly. "There's a house over on Worth road I think you should take a look at if it stays on the market for a few more weeks. Nice yard, three bedrooms, new roof..."

"Three bedrooms?" she asked, eyebrow raised. She was sure that he wasn't suggesting that one of them could make use of a home office, or that either of them knew the sort of people they'd want to put up in a dedicated guest bedroom very often.

"Did you enjoy being raised as an only child?" Nathan asked evenly. "I didn't."

"Though I guess I should appreciate the votes of confidence in my potential mothering skills, this baby isn't even here yet and everyone wants me to put my mind towards having another one!" she complained half-heartedly.

"Not necessarily," Nathan said, and she was sure that he was going to suggest that she could adopt a sibling for her daughter. Maybe he thought that she could collect a stray Troubled child or two, orphaned by some mishap or another. This led her mind to the wendigo girls that Julia had captured and murdered after they had loss control over their more ravenous impulses. She'd been horrified when she'd learned that the Driscolls and Carrs had dispatched the not-so-innocent children, but she wouldn't have wanted the raising of them.

"How so?" she asked, trying hard not to imagine homing an equally blood-thirsty child. It made her shiver.

"Did I ever tell you that Beaty has fallen into the water and nearly drowned?"

Puzzled by the turn in conversation, she merely said, "No."

"Twice. Fell of a dock once, and off her own damn boat another time. I'm not sure I ever met a clumsier woman."

"Okay..." Audrey found herself distracted, remembering the day she met Duke. Of course, in her case it had been someone's trouble that put her into the water, not clumsiness.

Before she could ask if Beaty had help getting into the water, he went on. "I'm just saying, all it would take was an ill-timed stumble around Duke while he was downstairs chopping vegetables with a sharp knife, and Jean wouldn't be dangerous to Duke any more."

"Nathan!" Audrey shrieked and he ducked out of her way so she couldn't swat at him, laughing at her all the while.

As outrageous as his suggestion was, in a way bringing up Jean did make her wish a little that Duke's older daughter could be cured as easily as in her dream. Not that Jean's adoptive parents would simply hand her over even if she was...

"Well, I guess you'll have to have a second baby, then," he said, still laughing at her shock. "If you avoid four-footed animals, you'll probably have an easier go of it next time."

"Maybe." She really did imagine that having another baby was in her future, just not immediately. "But you'll have to forgive me for not immediately bringing up either way of acquiring a second child to Duke when he and your father get back in a couple of days."

He nodded, looking unsurprised that they'd be home soon. She assumed then that he'd heard from Garland as well. Before she could ask him if he knew anything about the Chief hitting on a strange woman, Nathan asked, "Have you heard anything about the cow?"

"Why would I have heard anything about her? It wasn't like she needed medical attention too."

But had she been put down? Audrey wondered. Dogs and other animals that attacked people often were, she knew. The thought left her sad, it wasn't as though the cow had set out to hurt her, she had panicked in a completely understandable way.

"Jess asked me if Duke had put a hit out on her," Nathan said, barely managing a straight face.

"Oh!" she groaned. "Jess needs to learn more about Buddhism."

"Right, because Duke is such a pacifist."

"I can think of more than one occasion when we would have been well and truly screwed if he was a pacifist," Audrey felt the need to point out. "I'm sure you can too."

This had him quiet for a long moment. "You're right."

She shut up for a bit too. There were things she still couldn't understand about the relationship between the two men. Even though it wasn't as bad as it had been before, Nathan would still complain about the very things that made Duke so helpful to them when they dealt with certain troubled people. He still seemed to think of things in terms of black and white, right or wrong, even when they ran into gray situations.

Laverne's ring tone shattered the silence that had grown up around them, and he fumbled to answer his phone. "I'll put it on speaker phone," he muttered, pressing the button.

She frowned a little, not knowing how to feel about his obvious efforts to make her feel included.

Laverne had no idea so she just spoke. "Nathan, hon, you've got another call about things lurking under beds and in closets."

"Address?" he asked, quickly writing it down. "Be there as soon as I can."

"Hon..." the dispatcher hesitated. "I think another kid got hurt."

"Right." He ended the call without saying goodbye. "Damn it!"

"Nathan?" Audrey asked, a little surprised that he was swearing over a call.

He ran a hand over his face. "Sorry. This is just really getting to me. Things just keep getting worse, and people are getting hurt." Nathan shook his head before correcting himself. "Not people, kids. Of course that just might be because no adult has completely pissed it off yet, whatever it is."

"You still have no idea what it is?" she asked, feeling useless to him again.

"Someone's trouble. Don't know whose, though."

When he got up to leave, she cast him an alarmed look. "You can't go after it alone. Call Dwight or Dave."

She could tell that he wanted to roll his eyes but he managed not to. Instead he scrolled through his phone and hit a button. Since it was still on speaker phone she could hear Dwight's voice mail message. "I'll be all right," Nathan promised. "I'm not calling Dave because he and Vince are acting squirrelier than usual, and I don't trust him not to fire off a shot that'll get someone hurt."

"Then take me with you."

"Audrey," he started in a warning tone, but stopped when she held up a hand.

"Obviously I don't mean literally. Just keep your phone on, so I can hear."

"What good would that do?" he asked, to her frustration.

Giving him her most saccharine smile, she said, "If your phone is on you don't need to worry about it ringing at a bad moment when I call repeatedly to make sure you're okay out there alone."

"Fine," he grumbled. "I'll be glad when you're back to work and can come with me. You're actually less irritating that way."

"Love you too," she called as he hurried out the door.

* * *

Nathan sighed as he got behind the wheel of his truck. Where the hell was Dwight? He and Dwight had come to an agreement: since he'd been instrumental in sending both Duke and Garland out of Haven and off to where they couldn't be of use, Dwight would be on-call for long as necessary when it came to this case. So why wasn't he picking up his phone?

_Dwight better have a damn good reason_, Nathan grumbled silently to himself. The case was difficult enough without worrying Audrey over. Looking at the phone that sat on his passenger seat, Nathan realized that he was actually upset at himself more than Dwight.

When he had first shared the details of the strange case with her, he had told himself that she would feel less anxious and left out if he did. But that had been a mistake. He should have known that it wouldn't just entertain her. She would actually feel like he expected her to help.

At least Duke was coming home soon. They might get on each other's nerves, but him being there would give her something else to focus on. Maybe she wouldn't even notice that he had just decided that he was going to back away from sharing any more about the case with her. For her own good, of course, though she would punch him if he ever said that to her.

When he pulled up to Glengarry Road he had the misfortune of getting there while a train crossed the tracks. Fortunately, it looked like there were only 15 or 20 cars left to pass. He took the opportunity to pick up the phone and speak to Audrey. "Hey Audrey, I'm stuck waiting behind a train. I'm going to hang up for a minute and try Dwight's phone again, okay?"

There was a hesitation that made him cringe. "Okay. But call me back."

Trying not to sigh, he said, "will do."

Several more cars passed by in front of him, and Dwight's phone when directly to voice mail yet again. Gritting his teeth, Nathan jabbed the button to end the call. _Where the hell is he?_ he wondered again, annoyed.

* * *

_a/n: If I ever decide which fics to update based on amount of feedback per chapter…more of you guys should really consider speaking up more often. _


	21. Ride Along

Audrey's first words were "Any luck?" when he called her back.

"No, but I'm fine without him," he said in what he hoped was a convincing tone.

Audrey didn't say anything in reply.

Rain streaked down Nathan's windshield, reminding him of tears for some reason. Maybe it was because his grandmother Wournos had once told him that rain was angel tears. That had been when he'd been very young, back before he'd ever been touched by the Troubles. He'd innocently mentioned his grandmother's claim to his mother, and that had led to a row between the two women, which had left him both confused and a little afraid. Duke, who had been in his first grade class too at the time, could have told him that telling someone what someone else had said could spark a fight, but at six Nathan still hadn't witnessed that before.

After all the scathing remarks between wife and mother-in-law had been said, Nathan's mother had calmly put him in the car and driven to Haven's library. There she had located simple books about how weather works, and had set about reading them with him. Which is how Nathan learned another valuable life lesson: sometimes what's meant as an offhand remark can lead to lectures and point belaboring when you'd least expect it.

Nathan snorted as he cruised down the road. The next time Audrey or Duke told him to talk more, he'd share that story with him.

"What's funny?" Audrey's voice asked from his seat, making him jump. It had been so long since she'd said anything that he'd almost forgotten that she could hear him.

He shrugged. "Just thought about a time my mother over reacted to something Dad's mother told me."

"Ah. Guess that's something I don't have to worry about."

"Because you have no use for a mother-in-law?" he asked, intentionally needling her a little.

"Nathan..." she sighed. "No. If I marry him or not, he himself has little use for his mother. So my children won't be subjected to her pearls of wisdom."

Unseen by her, he grinned in amusement. As vehemently as she complained about how irritated she was by the presumption that she'd have more kids, she did use the phrase 'my children' instead of 'child' often enough when waxing hypothetical about the future. "If you ever met her, you wouldn't have much use for her either," he remarked.

"She's that bad?" Audrey asked in an uncharacteristically small voice.

He thought about being polite, but decided that Duke's mother didn't deserve that. "I don't like the woman."

"Why?" Audrey persisted.

Nathan stopped at a stop sign. "She wasn't so bad before Simon disappeared. And not so bad before Simon's body was recovered-"

"Just neglectful, right?" her tone was surprisingly bitter. Or surprising until he realized that Duke must have spoken to her about his childhood more than he would have guessed he would.

"Sure. But once Simon was in the ground and she took up with Duke's stepfather..." He trailed off, looking both ways before he continued down the road. "I lucked out when it came to good step-fathers. Duke... didn't."

Once he learned that Garland wasn't his biological father he began to realize that he'd been very lucky indeed. They'd clashed, of course, but so had all of his friends growing up and their fathers. Despite butting heads, he had always been sure that Garland cared about him. That was a gift Duke hadn't gotten.

"Duke almost never talks about him."

"Not a lot to say. The man might've loved Duke's mother after a fashion, but he made it abundantly clear that no morsel of his affection extended to Duke."

"He beat him, didn't he?" Audrey asked quietly.

"Yeah. And his mother never did anything to stop him, hence I consider her a waste of oxygen too." Duke had often come to school bruised, and when his stepfather had forgotten himself and left visible marks instead of those that only showed when they changed for gym Duke told nervous stories about how he'd bumped his head on a cabinet, or walked into a door.

"A lot of the nights Duke spent at our house were because of that. Happened so often there were always a few changes of clothes at our house for him. As a kid I used to wonder how Dad just knew to pick us both up from school. When I became a cop myself it finally occurred to me that he 'just knew' because Duke's neighbors let Dad know when there'd been rough nights. Of course some nights were so rough that Duke would walk all the way to our house. Didn't matter what hour it was, Dad never turned him away."

"Your dad's a good man."

"I know. But I think he regretted not being able to do more. I found a file in his desk last year. He'd brought Duke's step-father in a few times, but could never get charges to stick. Kind of explains why he's complained about crooked judges for twenty-five years..." He parked in front of a nice middle class home. "Hey Audrey, I'm here."

"Oh."

"You should probably just listen until I talk to you from this point on," he suggested. "Not sure what the family would think of remote police work."

"Gotcha," she agreed more readily than he expected she would.

"Thanks."

Nathan shoved the phone into a pocket of his raincoat, wondering how muffled it'd sound to her. _Can't be helped_, he told himself as he made his way to the front door.

He was only halfway to the door when it opened. An ashen-faced man carried a dark haired little boy out into the rain. Even with the kid bundled up in what was obviously an adult's coat, Nathan could see some of his injuries: long slashes marked the boy's neck and collarbones, as well as the shin that stuck out of the coat.

"Sir?" Nathan asked when he realized that the man didn't seem to see him.

The man blinked, startled. "Officer. It's in there, you better call animal control."

When the man began to turn away, Nathan gently took his arm to stop him. "Where are you going?"

"Hospital," he said shortly. "Hunter needs stitches."

"Don't you want me to get you an ambulance?"

"And pay $500? No."

"Uh... okay." He hadn't realized that the fee was quite so high because his health insurance had covered 100% of all his medical bills. It had to be rough if your insurance didn't cover it, or you had no insurance at all.

"I think it's not as bad as it looks," the man said defensively.

"Do I have permission to enter your house, mister...?"

"What? Of course. Cooper. Jason Cooper."

"Thanks, I won't keep you."

After delaying the man two full minutes, Nathan expected Cooper to make a mad dash to his car, but he hesitated. Pointing across the road, he said, "If it gets away from you, go look for it at Silas Adler's house. George and Amy both thought it might come from there."

"The old Victorian?" Nathan asked, having long ago learned not to assume that he'd correctly guessed where an upset person was pointing.

"Dad, it hurts," Hunter whimpered suddenly. "I want Mom."

"I know, buddy. Mom's gonna meet us at the hospital."

Nathan pointed across the road. "The Victorian?"

"Right," Cooper said quickly before abandoning Nathan.

He didn't even wait for Jason Cooper to drive off before drawing his gun and cautiously entering the house. Remembering Audrey, he pulled out his phone too. "You can talk again now."

"Hunter Cooper?" Audrey asked with a slight laugh. "Hopefully Duke and I will come up with a better choice than that."

"You could borrow it. Hunter is used for girls occasionally," Nathan pointed out.

"Hunter Crocker or Hunter Parker, both sound terrible!" she groaned on cue.

"Yeah, okay. That's pretty bad. Got better contenders?" If he asked her which last name they were going to use he'd probably end up with a bruised shoulder the next time he saw her, so he held that one back.

"At the moment, no," she admitted. "We've promised each other that we'll spend a couple days cracking those baby name books as soon as Duke gets home."

If not for the wistful tone to her voice, he might have asked if she regretted being so eager for Duke to take the Tall Ships job. Since she was clearly missing him, it'd be needlessly cruel to harp on the mistake.

"Those books didn't lead you to Eric, did they?"

"No. It just sort of came to us when we were throwing out possibilities."

"Well," he said. "You still have some time, anyway."

"I appreciate your confidence in our ability to figure it out in three weeks," she said, laughing. "Truly."

"Someone's got to believe in you."

"Thank-" she cut herself off. "Is there a bet?" she asked suspiciously.

"No." At least not one he was participating in, anyway. Dave kept asking him to, though. _That man can be like a terrier with a bone_, Nathan thought irritably.

"Oh. Good."

He was about to reply when he realized he could hear something, faintly. "Shh," he told the phone. As talkative as Audrey was, she was a good cop, which meant she went silent where another person might have demanded to know why. Even Jess probably would have, he decided.

Moving as quietly as he could, Nathan headed in the direction he thought the sound had come from. It seemed to take half of forever to get there, but eventually he reached the room in question, and unsurprisingly, it was Hunter's bedroom.

He didn't see it at first in the rain-induced gloom, but when he did he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it sooner. Its appearance was so startling that he'd had to hold his breath to keep from voicing his shock.

The Wolfe children had debated if the "monster" was more cat-like or dog-like, but Nathan felt that it was little like either. Instead it seemed more like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. It was the size of a German Shepard, but not shaped like one. The torso was muscular, but its limbs were long and thin. Gray-brown for bristled from it, like a cat puffed up in fear even though it was calmly nosing at an item of clothing. The head was the shape of an inverted triangle, ending in an angular muzzle and it had large slanted eyes.

And it immediately became angry when it noticed him.

A growl unlike any he'd ever heard before was his only warning before it abandoned the child's pants and charging right at him. "Oh crap!" he yelled and side-stepped the irate creature. Watching it run past him, he began to find himself wondering if the reports of what had happened in Bridgton back when he was little had some truth to them after all. He and Duke and all their classmates had been told repeatedly that the story about what had gone on during an unusually thick fog was only the product of the Bangor author's overheated imagination, but now he wondered...

"Nathan! You okay?"

"Yes!" he practically yelled, surprised to be yanked so suddenly out of his musings. To his shock the thing didn't attempt another pass at him when it missed. Instead it ran out of the room, full steam ahead. "What the hell is it doing?" he asked rhetorically.

Audrey didn't pick up on that nuance. "I don't know. What is it doing?"

"I think..." He realized that it was headed towards the house's open front door, the one that he hadn't thought to shut. Although he wasn't sure how wise it would have been to shut himself in the house with the thing. "... It's trying to get away from me."

"Away from..? Nathan, are you chasing it?!" his phone yelled at him.

"Yeah. My turn to chase, apparently."

"Are you sure that chasing it is a good idea?"

He was actually pretty sure that it wasn't. "It's fine."

"It doesn't sound fine," she returned doubtfully.

It quickly turned out that her doubt was well-founded. The thing reached the open door several beats before he did and it didn't hesitate before bounding outside. "No. Dammit!" He panted a second before regarding the phone. "It's outside."

"Now what?"

Being thoroughly, completely sick of getting to a house in order to see an injured child he reached too late prompted his next action. "Hey!" he shouted at it. "Stop!"

* * *

It hardly surprised him when this demand went unheeded. Instead it completely ignored him and ran towards the road. After he began to run towards him, he asked himself why he was chasing it instead of the other way around. A couple of minutes earlier he'd compared its fur to that of a frightened cat's: what if its fur wasn't like that naturally, either? What if it was puffed up because it was afraid of him?

"I think it's scared of me," he informed the phone. "And that it's afraid enough to run home."

"Good, then you'll know where to have Dwight meet you," she said, her tone hopeful and coaxing, like she thought that being reasonable would temper his actions

"I'm not waiting around for Dwight," he said stubbornly. "It'll get away."

"But-" she squeaked.

"It's already hurt enough people," he insisted. "I'm not letting it get away again." She continued to try to reason with him, but he stopped responding to her. Cooper had thought that the beast had come from the Adler house, so that's where he fully expected it to run, but once it hit the miraculously empty street it bolted in another direction. "Oh!" he yelled, tracking it with his eyes.

"What's going on?" Audrey demanded to know, probably not for the first time since he'd foolishly dashed across the street without checking for cars.

Rather than admit he'd been upset enough to forget how to safely cross a street, he said, "It's not going to the Adler house."

"Where then?" Her voice sounded wobbly, but he assumed it was due to his jogging rather than overwrought feelings on her end. But maybe not. "Damn it, Nathan, someone needs to know your twenty in case you need backup."

"I won't," he insisted. But after a beat he was able to figure out the monster's destination. "It's running towards the Winchester house."

"I thought the Winchester house was in California," she said, sounding, confused.

"What?" he asked, then remembered the story of the Winchester creator's widow building a mansion for ghosts. "Different Winchesters. No ghosts." He thought for a moment. "No Sam or Dean, either."

"Too bad. At least they'd make sure they had your back."

He kind of wished that there was someone was with him. Going it alone, without any backup, no longer seemed like a wise idea. "I'm all right." Besides the stitch beginning to burn in his side, that was. Maybe he should go on some of the jogs he knew Audrey would take up again after she had the baby.

"Oh, yeah, you're great," she said sarcastically." I can hear how out of breath you are, you know."

Nathan stopped running when he saw the monster leap at an open window in the basement of the Winchester house. He sprinted to the window and carefully placed his palms on the glass he could barely feel and forced the window to slide along the track so the opening no longer afford it a means of egress.

* * *

_a/n: getting worried yet? _


End file.
